Basketball Game Preview: Norwayne Bobcats vs. Chippewa Chipps

The Norwayne Bobcats will take on the Chippewa Chipps at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Chippewa will be up against a hot Norwayne team: the squad just extended their winning streak to seven. Norwayne breezed by Buchtel to the tune of 63-15 on Saturday. Given the Bobcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 165th, while the Griffins are ranked 578th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Norwayne's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ava Maibach, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 boards. That's the most rebounds Maibach has posted since back in January of 2024. Allie Demassimo was another key player, putting up 13 points and four steals.

Norwayne 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 eight offensive rebounds in 16 consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Chippewa humbled Dalton with a 55-27 victory. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Chipps had established a 20 point advantage.

Norwayne has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 27.3 points per game. As for Chippewa, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 11-7.

Norwayne was able to grind out a solid win over Chippewa in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, winning 66-56. Will Norwayne repeat their success, or does Chippewa have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.