Preview: Chapel Hill Tigers vs. Hillside Hornets
Chapel Hill is 2-8 against Hillside since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Chapel Hill Tigers have the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome the Hillside Hornets at 5:30 p.m. on February 23rd. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Wednesday, Chapel Hill really took it to East Chapel Hill for the full four quarters, racking up a 62-25 win at home. The team accrued 50 points in the first half and coasted on those for the win.
Chapel Hill's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ashton Beale led the charge by scoring 14 points along with two steals. Beale hasn't dropped below two steals for five straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Scarlett Gilner, who scored ten points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up nine more assists than your opponent, a fact Hillside proved on Wednesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Jordan 62-24 at home. Given Hillside's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 84th, while Jordan is ranked 221st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Samiyah Barker was her usual excellent self, scoring 21 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Hillside's points. Madison Malone was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on ten points and ten rebounds.
Chapel Hill pushed their record up to 21-4 with that win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.2 points per game. As for Hillside, they are on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 15 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season.
Friday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Chapel Hill have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 44.8% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Hillside struggles in that department as they've made 38.9% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything came up roses for Chapel Hill against Hillside in their previous matchup last Tuesday as the team secured a 78-46 win. In that contest, Chapel Hill amassed a halftime lead of 38-17, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
