Basketball Recap: Charlotte Speights' Big Game Can't Quite Lead Porter-Gaud over Northwood Academy

Porter-Gaud lost against Northwood Academy back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Porter-Gaud Cyclones took a 42-29 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Northwood Academy Chargers. While losing is never fun, the Cyclones can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Chargers are ranked 50th).

Porter-Gaud lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Charlotte Speights, who posted eight points.

Northwood Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Maliyah Birch led the charge by putting up 13 points and six steals. Birch is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 16 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Rylan Dundon, who earned eight points along with five rebounds and three steals.

This is the second loss in a row for Porter-Gaud and nudges their season record down to 5-8. As for Northwood Academy, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-6.

Porter-Gaud didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 57-8 win against Pinewood Prep on the 17th. Northwood Academy has also already played their next match, a 61-46 defeat against First Baptist School on the 17th.