Basketball Recap: Asheville Takes a Loss

Asheville lost against McDowell back in January and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Asheville Cougars were dealt a 65-35 loss at the hands of the McDowell Titans. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 177th, while the Titans are ranked eighth).

Despite the defeat, Asheville had strong showings from Hayziah Dillingham, who posted seven points along with ten boards and five assists, and Lilly Saunders, who scored five points. The dominant performance also gave Saunders a new career-high in steals (two).

Even though they lost, Asheville smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in six consecutive matchups.

Asheville's loss dropped their record down to 11-11. As for McDowell, the victory keeps them at an undefeated 22-0.

Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Asheville will square off against North Buncombe at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Asheville is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.2 points per game this season. As for McDowell, they will face off against Erwin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Erwin is on a five-game streak of home wins, McDowell a nine-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.