Preview: Tucker County Mountain Lions vs. East Hardy Cougars
Tucker County is 10-0 against East Hardy since January of 2020, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Tucker County Mountain Lions will take on the East Hardy Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Tucker County focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 19 on Thursday.
In what's become a running theme this season, Tucker County gave their fans yet another huge win on Thursday. They really took it to Moorefield for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-38 victory on the road. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 41-15.
Tucker County's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Raven Matthews, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and 13 rebounds. Matthews hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Ericka Zirk, who scored 13 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, East Hardy rose to the challenge on Tuesday. They walked away with a 38-29 victory over the Tigers.
East Hardy relied on the efforts of Chloe Miller, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Brooklynn Tinnell, who scored 23 points along with five rebounds and three steals. That makes it six consecutive games in which Tinnell has scored at least a third of East Hardy's points.
The win was the third in a row for Tucker County, bringing their record for this year to 17-5. As for East Hardy, their win bumped their record up to 8-14.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's match: Tucker County have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.2% of their threes per game. It's a different story for East Hardy, though, as they've only made 29.8% of their threes this season. Given Tucker County's sizable advantage in that area, East Hardy will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything came up roses for Tucker County against East Hardy in their previous meeting back in January as the squad secured a 78-41 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Tinnell, who scored 25 points along with five rebounds and three steals. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Tucker County still be able to contain Tinnell? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
