Basketball Game Preview: Northwestern Trojans vs. Rock Hill Bearcats

Northwestern hasn't had much luck against Rock Hill recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Northwestern Trojans will face off against the Rock Hill Bearcats at 6:30 p.m.

Northwestern came up short against Fort Mill on Tuesday, falling 51-28. While losing is never fun, the Trojans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 149th, while the Yellow Jackets are ranked 46th).

Meanwhile, Rock Hill had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They breezed by the Falcons to the tune of 68-40. The Bearcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 22 points or more this season.

Rock Hill's win came from a few key players Northwestern will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Chloe Hudson, who posted 21 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Aubrey Stevenson, who put up 18 points.

Rock Hill has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 25.8 points. As for Northwestern, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-14.

Northwestern was dealt a bruising 55-19 defeat at the hands of Rock Hill in their previous meeting back in January. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Northwestern was down 33-8.