Basketball Game Preview: Union Academy Cardinals vs. Albemarle Bulldogs

Union Academy is on a 13-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Albemarle is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. Having just played yesterday, the Union Academy Cardinals will get right back to it and host the Albemarle Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

On Thursday, everything came up roses for Union Academy against Valor Preparatory Academy as the team secured a 64-27 victory. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 135th, while the Owls are ranked 617th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Albemarle's strategy against South Stanly on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Albemarle blew South Stanly out of the water with a 68-9 final score. With the Bulldogs ahead 53-0 at the half, the match was all but over already.

Albemarle is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 27.6 points per game. As for Union Academy, their win bumped their record up to 16-0.

Union Academy didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Albemarle when the teams last played on January 9th, but they still walked away with a 65-59 victory. Will Union Academy repeat their success, or does Albemarle have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.