Two dominant guards in Syvannah Dawson and Sydney Richardson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Thomas Dale Knights will head out on the road to square off against the Matoaca Warriors at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Thomas Dale comes in on 17 and the Warriors on four.
Thomas Dale put the finishing touches on their 15th blowout victory of the season on Friday. They breezed by John Marshall at home to the tune of 74-33. Given Thomas Dale's advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked first, while the Justices are ranked 48th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hopewell typically has all the answers at home, but on Thursday Matoaca proved too difficult a challenge. They enjoyed a cozy 61-44 victory over the Blue Devils.
Matoaca's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Richardson, who scored 21 points along with four steals. Richardson is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last six games she's played. Another player making a difference was Faith Brown, who scored 17 points along with six steals.
Thomas Dale's win was their 20th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 17-0. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 44.6 points. As for Matoaca, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a massive bump to their 12-8 record this season.
Everything came up roses for Thomas Dale against the Warriors in their previous matchup two weeks ago as the team secured a 102-17 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Thomas Dale since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
