Battling the Knights on Friday, the Redhawks’ basketball program heads to Independence as they continue in their District 9-5A seasons, with the girls beginning at 6:00 p.m., followed by the boys starting at 7:15 p.m.

“We’ve work on ourselves and the things we didn’t as well the day after Tuesday’s game on Wednesday, kind of get a look into what the next team is going to do, then we have a big preparation game the day before the game which was Thursday of this week,” head girls’ basketball coach Ross Reedy said. “Then we went through our little walk through this morning and made sure we watched them on film to show our kids what they did and talk about adjustments we want to make and how we want to attack things.”

Aiming to go 5-0 in District 9-5A, senior Mara Casey believes if the team stays consistent then success will follow.

“I’m really pumped for this game,” Casey said. “We just need to continue playing the way we know how to and we’ll be in good shape.”

Senior Makenzi Glover does not see defeating the Knights as the only purpose for the team.

“Besides a win, we’re hoping to have a good time with each other,” Glover said. “That’s the whole reason we play this game, because it’s fun.”

On the boys’ side of the court, the Redhawks hope to take their District 9-5A record to 3-1.

“I feel very optimistic going into it, we are playing really well right now,” head boys’ basketball coach Stephen Friar said. “I think the guys are starting to buy into things on the defensive end, so as long as we keep doing that, we’ll be fine.”

Senior Peyton Harwell believes the boys will always have room to improve when it comes to talking on the court.

“We need to talk more,” Harwell said. “You can never talk enough on the court. Communication is just as important as any aspect of the game.”

Hoping to come out the gate strong, junior Micaiah Abii wants to beat the Knights early on in the game.

“I’m expecting what we need to expect every game, which is to beat them early,” Abii said. “We are one of those teams that can end the game in the first quarter if we want to. We need to make sure we don’t relax in the half court on defense. If we continue to dominate in our press, we will be well off.”