Basketball Game Preview: Hickory Red Tornadoes vs. St. Stephens Indians

The Hickory Red Tornadoes just played yesterday, but they'll still head out to face the St. Stephens Indians at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Hickory is coming into the game on a three-game losing streak.

Hickory is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Alexander Central on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Hickory was beaten by Alexander Central 63-34. While losing is never fun, the Red Tornadoes can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 364th, while the Cougars are ranked 65th).

Meanwhile, St. Stephens lost to North Iredell on the road by a 55-38 margin on Tuesday. The Indians haven't had much luck with the Raiders recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.

Hickory will have to contain Kennedy Blevins as she made an impact in St. Stephens' last game. She posted 19 points and seven boards. That was a full 50% of St. Stephens' points, marking the 15th time in a row she's put up more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Addison Smith, who had seven points.

St. Stephens' loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-12. As for Hickory, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-12.

Hickory lost to St. Stephens on the road by a decisive 61-46 margin when the teams last played on January 7th. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Blevins, who shot 6-for-9 from long range and dropped a double-double on 45 points and ten rebounds. Now that Hickory knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.