Basketball Game Preview: McMinn County Cherokees vs. Cleveland Blue Raiders

McMinn County hasn't had much luck against Cleveland recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The McMinn County Cherokees will be playing at home against the Cleveland Blue Raiders at 6:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

McMinn County is headed into Friday's game looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their seventh straight game on Monday. They took a 63-51 hit to the loss column at the hands of Ooltewah. That's two games in a row now that the Cherokees have lost by exactly 12 points.

Meanwhile, Cleveland unfortunately witnessed the end of their 11-game winning streak on Tuesday. The contest between them and Bearden didn't end well, with Cleveland falling 56-37. While losing is never fun, the Blue Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 29th, while the Bulldogs are ranked fourth).

McMinn County's defeat dropped their record down to 5-17. As for Cleveland, their loss dropped their record down to 18-5.

McMinn County took a serious blow against Cleveland when the teams last played back in January, falling 68-36. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cleveland's Lauren Hurst, who made all 10 shots she took racking up 22 points and three steals. Now that McMinn County knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.