Preview: Jones Trojans vs. North Duplin Rebels
Jones is 0-3 against North Duplin since December of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Jones Trojans will head out on the road to face off against the North Duplin Rebels at 6:00 p.m. Jones comes in on a streak of failing to score more than 24 points in their last three games, a trend the squad is of course eager to reverse.
Last Friday, Jones took a serious blow against Union, falling 51-24. While losing is never fun, Jones can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 376th, while Union is ranked 96th).
Despite the loss, Jones saw an underclassman step up: Aariel Jemison scored 11 points along with 6 rebounds. Jemison scored a full 45.8% of Jones' points, the second time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Cassidy Rouse, who scored 3 points along with 10 rebounds.
Even though North Duplin has not done well against East Duplin recently (they were 0-8 in their previous eight matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. North Duplin strolled past East Duplin with points to spare, taking the game 53-39. The victory made it back-to-back wins for North Duplin.
Among those leading the charge was Addy Higginbotham, who scored 27 points. Tateyawna Faison was another key contributor, scoring 10 points.
Spring Creek's win bumped their season record to 0-0 while Jones' loss dropped theirs to 1-3.
Jones took a serious blow against North Duplin when the teams last played back in November of 2022, falling 66-15. Can Jones avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
