Basketball Preview: Hartsville Red Foxes vs. Wilson Tigers
Hartsville is 2-8 against the Tigers since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Hartsville Red Foxes will head out on the road to square off against the Wilson Tigers at 6:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Hartsville sitting on eight straight wins and the Tigers on five.
Hartsville stacked an 11th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They really took it to West Florence for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-29 win on the road. The matchup was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point Hartsville had established a 25 point advantage.
Hartsville's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Brooke Mitchell led the charge by scoring 13 points along with eight steals and six rebounds. Jazzy Frierson was another key contributor, scoring 17 points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Wilson didn't have too much trouble with the Seahawks on the road on Friday as they won 49-30. Given Wilson's advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 37th, while the Seahawks are ranked 125th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Wilson got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Logan Murray out in front who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds and four blocks. Another player making a difference was Ariana Johnson, who scored nine points along with five rebounds and four steals.
Hartsville is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-6 record this season. As for Wilson, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-6.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Hartsville have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Wilson struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Hartsville didn't have too much breathing room in their game against the Tigers in their previous matchup back in January, but they still walked away with a 54-49 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hartsville since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
