Basketball Preview: Richlands Wildcats vs. East Duplin Panthers
A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Richlands Wildcats duke it out with the East Duplin Panthers at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday... The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Richlands has struggled recently with four losses in a row, while East Duplin will arrive with five straight victories.
Richlands is likely headed into the match with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Lejeune on Friday. Richlands fell to Lejeune 35-31.
Meanwhile, East Duplin was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past North Duplin 60-31. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 20 points or more this season.
East Duplin found their leader in sophomore Kinsey Cave, who went 7 for 12 en route to 19 points plus six rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cave has scored all season. Makya Kornegay was another key player, earning 14 points along with three steals.
East Duplin smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 31 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
East Duplin's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-1. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.0 points per game. As for Richlands, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-5.
Richlands was dealt a bruising 68-12 loss at the hands of East Duplin in their previous matchup on Tuesday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cave, who went 6 for 9 en route to 15 points plus seven assists and five rebounds. Now that Richlands knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
