The Southwest Roughriders will take on the Arapahoe Warriors in a holiday battle at at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with three consecutive losses for Southwest and eight for Arapahoe dating back to last season.
Last Tuesday, Southwest had to suffer through a 63-33 loss at the hands of Alma. While losing is never fun, the Roughriders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 116th, while the Cardinals are ranked 23rd).
| 12/17/24 vs Alma | 10 |
| 12/14/24 vs Decatur Community | 11 |
| 12/13/24 vs Medicine Valley | 5 |
| 12/10/24 vs Arapahoe | 7 |
Southwest's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Houston Billeter, who posted 20 points and six rebounds, and Deric Kelley, who put up six points and ten rebounds. With that strong performance, Kelley is now averaging an impressive 8.2 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, Arapahoe scored the most points they've had this season on Thursday, but it wasn't enough. They fell 62-55 to Wilcox-Hildreth.
Southwest will need focus on slowing down Gage Gooden, one of several Arapahoe players who made an impact when they last played. He went 6 of 13 on his way to 16 points and eight rebounds. The dominant performance gave Gooden a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Eli Shafer, who posted eight points and ten rebounds.
Even though they lost, Arapahoe smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in eight consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Arapahoe's defeat dropped their record down to 0-7. As for Southwest, their loss dropped their record down to 1-5.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Southwest has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 29.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Arapahoe struggles in that department as they've been averaging 37.9 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Southwest was able to grind out a solid win over Arapahoe when the teams last played last Tuesday, winning 49-37. Does Southwest have another victory up their sleeve, or will Arapahoe turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
