The Salem Spartans will square off against the Blacksburg Bruins at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Salem is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 60.2 points per game this season.
Blacksburg will be up against a hot Salem team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Salem blew past Christiansburg 67-25 on Saturday. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while the Blue Demons are ranked 186th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Bailey Rider was her usual excellent self, going 5 of 9 en route to 14 points along with five boards and three steals. She is trending in the right direction considering she's improved her point production for three straight games. Gabby Crawley was another key player, putting up ten points and three steals.
Salem smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Blacksburg came up short against Pulaski County on Friday and fell 53-45. The Bruins have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Salem's victory was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-1. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.1 points per game. As for Blacksburg, they now have a losing record at 7-8.
Everything came up roses for Salem against Blacksburg when the teams last played on January 3rd, as the team secured a 55-25 win. Does Salem have another victory up their sleeve, or will Blacksburg turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
