Preview: Foard Tigers vs. St. Stephens Indians
Foard and St. Stephens are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2019, but not for long. The Foard Tigers' road trip will continue as they head out to face the St. Stephens Indians at 6:00 p.m. on February 16th. Hopefully Foard focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Tuesday.
Last Tuesday, Foard was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 46-42 to Hickory.
Foard's loss came about despite a quality game from Imani Ikard, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Ikard is on a roll when it comes to blocks, as she's now posted two or more in the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Leah Akel, who scored four points.
Meanwhile, everything went St. Stephens' way against Statesville on Tuesday as St. Stephens made off with a 53-32 win. Given St. Stephens' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 191st, while Statesville is ranked 496th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Molli Harris was her usual excellent self, scoring 19 points along with six rebounds and five assists. Aubrey Gibbs was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
Foard's loss dropped their record down to 15-8. As for St. Stephens, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season.
Friday's game is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Foard have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 33.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like St. Stephens struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Foard didn't have too much breathing room in their match against St. Stephens in their previous matchup back in January, but they still walked away with a 49-45 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Foard since the squad 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
