The Rock Hills Grizzlies will face off against the Pike Valley Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Last Tuesday, Rock Hills was fully in charge, breezing past Thunder Ridge 57-29. The Grizzlies have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five contests by 23 points or more this season.
| 01/21/25 @ Thunder Ridge | 3 |
| 01/13/25 vs Stockton | 2 |
| 01/20/25 vs St. John's/Tipton Catholic | 2 |
| 01/10/25 @ St. John's/Tipton Catholic | 2 |
| 12/17/24 vs Logan/Palco | 1 |
It was another big night for Halle Mizner, who went 9 of 18 en route to 24 points along with eight boards and four steals. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in blocks (three). Bethany Simmelink was another key player, putting up nine points and seven assists.
Rock Hills was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pike Valley). They claimed a resounding 54-25 victory over Lakeside. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Panthers just coasted through the last quarter.
Pike Valley's win came from a few key players Rock Hills will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Breanna Reeves, who posted 18 points in addition to five rebounds and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Kinley Cooper, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 boards.
Rock Hills' win was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.1 points per game. As for Pike Valley, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 7-5 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's game: Rock Hills has been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.8% of their three-pointers per game. It's a different story for Pike Valley, though, as they've only made 13.2% of their threes this season. Given Rock Hills' sizable advantage in that area, Pike Valley will need to find a way to close that gap.
Rock Hills didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Pike Valley when the teams last played back in December of 2024, but they still walked away with a 33-27 victory. Will Rock Hills repeat their success, or does Pike Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
