The Roxana Shells will head out on the road to square off against the East Alton-Wood River Oilers at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. Hopefully Roxana is not getting complacent, as they presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than the Oilers in Illinois (the Shells are ranked 235th, while the Oilers are ranked 633rd).
Roxana scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They took their match at home with ease, bagging a 77-34 win over Lebanon. With Roxana ahead 44-22 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Roxana can attribute much of their success to Aidan Briggs, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds and five steals, and Chris Walleck, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 11 rebounds. It was the first time this season that Walleck pulled down eight or more rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Sean Maberry, who scored eight points along with eight assists.
Meanwhile, East Alton-Wood River's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their fourth straight defeat. They took a 77-61 bruising from Southwestern. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Roxana is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-10 record this season. As for East Alton-Wood River, they dropped their record down to 3-22 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Everything went Roxana's way against the Oilers when the teams last played back in December of 2023 as the Shells made off with a 59-34 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Roxana since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
