The River Ridge Hawks will face off against the North Thurston Rams at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. River Ridge knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past eight games -- so hopefully North Thurston likes a good challenge.
River Ridge is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They greeted the New Year with with an 85-66 win over Black Hills. The Hawks pushed the score to 67-44 by the end of the third, a deficit the Wolves cut but never quite recovered from.
River Ridge's win on Friday was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Dominique Harper, who went 8 for 11 on his way to 16 points and eight rebounds. Zach Ward was another key player, going 5 of 10 on his way to 14 points.
River Ridge smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 14 offensive rebounds in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, North Thurston unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak last Saturday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 58-57 to Beamer.
Defeat or not, North Thurston got some senior leadership from Kurt Cavalier and Liam Sheeran. Cavalier posted 17 points and six rebounds, while Sheeran put up 12 points and six boards. The contest was Cavalier's fourth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jorden Walker, who had seven points.
River Ridge's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-4. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.7 points per game. As for North Thurston, their loss dropped their record down to 6-5.
This contest is shaping up to be a blowout: River Ridge just can't miss this season, having made 49.5% of their shots per game. It's a different story for North Thurston, though, as they've only made 32.8% of their field goals this season. Given River Ridge's sizable advantage in that area, North Thurston will need to find a way to close that gap.
River Ridge was dealt a bruising 67-39 defeat at the hands of North Thurston in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sheeran, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 steals. Now that River Ridge knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
