The Normal West Wildcats were the 59-56 winner over the Richwoods Knights when they last played one another back in December of 2022, but their luck changed this time around. Normal West took a 58-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of Richwoods on Thursday. While losing is never fun, Normal West can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 295th, while Richwoods is ranked 94th).
Despite the defeat, Normal West had strong showings from Taylor Hafermann, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Nate Moore, who scored 9 points along with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Moore is absolutely dominating the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Maliq Givens-Smith , who scored 6 points.
This is the second loss in a row for Normal West and nudges their season record down to 2-3. As for Richwoods, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 5-1.
Normal West will be playing at home against St. Joseph-Ogden at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Richwoods, they will head out on the road to face off against Illinois Valley Central at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
