The Russia Raiders had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Monday. Everything went their way against New Knoxville as Russia made off with a 46-25 win. Given Russia's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 237th, while the Rangers are ranked 649th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Despite the loss, New Knoxville had strong showings from Lauren Wingler, who scored seven points along with two steals, and Addi Albers, who scored 11 points along with six rebounds and three steals. That was a full 44% of New Knoxville's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Russia pushed their record up to 10-8 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home. As for New Knoxville, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-16.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Russia has the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome the Trojans at 11:30 a.m. on February 3rd. New Knoxville will take on the Cardinals at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. New Bremen and the Rangers are at an even 5-5 over their past ten head-to-heads.
