Preview: Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders vs. Leesville Road Pride
Cardinal Gibbons has enjoyed the comforts of home their last four games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will face off against the Leesville Road Pride at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Cardinal Gibbons' favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last five matches.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up seven more assists than your opponent, a fact Cardinal Gibbons proved on Wednesday. They walked away with a 57-47 victory over Athens Drive. Given Cardinal Gibbons' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 118th, while Athens Drive is ranked 307th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kaylee Fitzsimmons went supernova for Cardinal Gibbons, scoring 26 points along with three steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fitzsimmons has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Tessa Gladieux, who scored 13 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Leesville Road had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 40.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They came out on top against Broughton by a score of 61-52.
Leesville Road's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Molly Zuburg, who scored 17 points along with two steals. Zuburg hasn't dropped below two steals for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Finley Lewis, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Cardinal Gibbons is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season. As for Leesville Road, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-5.
Friday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Cardinal Gibbons have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 40.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Leesville Road struggles in that department as they've made 43.2% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Cardinal Gibbons strolled past Leesville Road when the teams last played two weeks ago by a score of 64-50. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cardinal Gibbons since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
