Hopewell and Matoaca are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2019, but not for long. The Hopewell Blue Devils will be playing at home against the Matoaca Warriors at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Matoaca will be up against a hot Hopewell team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. Hopewell blew past Meadowbrook, posting a 63-9 win. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 93rd, while the Monarchs are ranked 359th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Erin Edmonds HV17 was her usual excellent self, almost dropping a triple-double on 25 points, ten rebounds, and nine steals. That makes it seven consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Hopewell's points. Another player making a difference was Dionne Morris, who went 5 of 12 on her way to 10 points along with seven boards and five steals.
Hopewell smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 23 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in January of 2024.
Meanwhile, Matoaca was fully in charge on Tuesday, breezing past Petersburg 66-35.
Matoaca found their leader in freshman Kailah Carter, who went 12 for 18 en route to 25 points and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Sydney Richardson, who went 5 of 12 on her way to 15 points and eight rebounds.
Hopewell has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season. As for Matoaca, their victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 10-7.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Hopewell hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 61.4 points per game. However, it's not like Matoaca struggles in that department as they've been averaging 56.1 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Hopewell beat Matoaca 62-51 in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Richardson, who went 9 for 18 en route to 25 points and five boards. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Hopewell still be able to contain Richardson? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
