The Boiling Springs Bulldogs will challenge the Riverside Warriors at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Boiling Springs is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their contest on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 60-30 victory over Wade Hampton. With the Bulldogs ahead 35-14 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Boiling Springs found their leader in sophomore Makenzie Kinard, who went 9 of 17 on her way to 22 points in addition to five assists and five steals. That makes it 12 consecutive games in which Kinard has scored at least a third of Boiling Springs' points. Another player making a difference was Brynn Tipton, who posted 11 points.
Boiling Springs was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in December of 2023.
Meanwhile, Riverside entered their tilt with Eastside on Tuesday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They really took it to the Eagles for the full four quarters, racking up a 64-18 win. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while the Eagles are ranked 134th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Riverside's win came from a few key players Boiling Springs will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Elly Trickett, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds. The matchup was her third in a row with at least ten points. Sophia Powell was another key player, dropping a double-double on 17 points and ten boards.
Riverside is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.8 points per game. As for Boiling Springs, their victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 8-14.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Boiling Springs has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 32.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Riverside struggles in that department as they've been averaging 36 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Boiling Springs took a serious blow against Riverside in their previous meeting back in January, falling 69-39. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Trickett, who went 9 for 21 en route to 24 points and eight rebounds. Now that Boiling Springs knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
