Preview: Carver Tigers vs. Monroe Golden Tornadoes
The Carver Tigers will square off against the Monroe Golden Tornadoes at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Carver waltzed into their contest on Wednesday with seven straight wins but they left with eight. They breezed by Thomasville at home to the tune of 79-23. With Carver ahead 52-13 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Aubri Wilkins continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 17 points along with four steals. She has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played. Another player making a difference was Jazmin Thornton, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up nine more assists than your opponent, a fact Monroe proved on Friday. They claimed a resounding 64-29 win over Columbus on the road. The win was just what Monroe needed coming off of a 69-44 defeat in their prior game.
Ciarra Lunsford and Kie'Aundria Acree were among the main playmakers for Monroe as the former dropped a double-double on 24 points and 13 rebounds and the latter shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and dropped a triple-double on 26 points, 12 rebounds, and ten assists. That makes it four consecutive games in which Acree has scored at least a third of Monroe's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Glendalys Harvey, who scored four points along with nine rebounds.
Carver's win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 19-6. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 76.9 points per game. As for Monroe, they have been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 13 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-8 record this season.
Friday's game is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Carver have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 44.2% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Monroe struggles in that department as they've made 43.4% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Carver took their win against Monroe in their previous meeting last Tuesday by a conclusive 69-44. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Acree, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Carver still be able to contain Acree? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
