Basketball Game Preview: Durham Academy Cavaliers vs. St. Mary's Saints

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Previous Games

02/02/24 - Away	60-49 W
01/16/24 - Home	44-35 W
02/07/23 - Away	51-29 W
01/20/23 - Home	62-27 W
02/10/22 - Home	60-11 W
+ 5 more games

Durham Academy has gone 10-0 against St. Mary recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Durham Academy Cavaliers will be playing at home against the St. Mary's Saints at 5:45 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Last Tuesday, Durham Academy was able to grind out a solid victory over Riverside-Durham, taking the game 42-31. Given the Cavaliers' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 212th, while the Pirates are ranked 475th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, St. Mary's came tearing into back in December of 2024's match with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27 points) and they left with even more momentum. They managed a 38-32 win over the Warriors. While the Saints didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

St. Mary's win came from a few key players Durham Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kate Chamblee, who posted ten points in addition to four blocks and three steals. She has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Mary-Scott Wrenn, who had nine points and three steals.

St. Mary's was working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. David's only racked up seven assists.

St. Mary's pushed their record up to 9-1 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.2 points per game. As for Durham Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-6 record this season.

Durham Academy beat St. Mary's 60-49 in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was St. Mary's Emme Seymour, who put up 20 points. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Durham Academy still be able to contain Seymour? There's only one way to find out.