Having just played yesterday, the River Valley Raiders will get right back to it and host the Athens Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Athens will be up against a hot River Valley team: the squad just extended their winning streak to eight. River Valley breezed by Wellston to the tune of 59-21 on Wednesday. Given the Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 256th, while the Golden Rockets are ranked 616th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Athens was fully in charge on Thursday, breezing past Nelsonville-York 64-36.
River Valley better keep an eye on Asa Holcombe. She was instrumental in Athens' win, almost dropping a double-double on 21 points and nine boards. Holcombe has been hot recently, having also posted four or more steals the last three times she's played. Ella Chapman was another key player, going 5 for 9 en route to 14 points and four steals.
Athens smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 24 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in nine consecutive matches.
River Valley has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season. As for Athens, their win bumped their record up to 9-2.
River Valley suffered a grim 62-38 defeat to Athens in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Athens' Alexis Koopal, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 15 rebounds. Now that River Valley knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
