Pender hasn't had much luck against East Bladen recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Pender Patriots will venture away from home to challenge the East Bladen Eagles at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Pender didn't have too much breathing room in their game against South Columbus, but they still walked away with a 34-28 win.
Maddison Francis was Pender's leading scorer, having posted ten points. Francis also led the team in rebounds with eight. Solange Stewart took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with two assists.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask East Bladen). They ended the year with a bang, routing Cardinal Gibbons 69-44 on Saturday. The Eagles have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight contests by 22 points or more this season.
Pender better keep an eye on NeNe Ward. She was instrumental in East Bladen's win, going 11 for 24 on her way to 29 points in addition to eight assists and eight steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Laila Smith, who went 5 for 11 on her way to 15 points and eight rebounds.
East Bladen was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cardinal Gibbons only racked up nine assists.
East Bladen pushed their record up to 10-2 with the victory, which was their sixth straight on the road. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 29.3 points. As for Pender, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Pender has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 20.7 boards per game. However, it's not like East Bladen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.5 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Pender lost to East Bladen on the road by a decisive 74-56 margin in their previous meeting back in February. Can Pender avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
