Preview: Eastern Randolph Wildcats vs. Oak Grove Grizzlies
The Eastern Randolph Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the Oak Grove Grizzlies at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Eastern Randolph will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 377th, while Oak Grove is ranked 110th).
Eastern Randolph struggled with assists on Tuesday (Williams had nine more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Eastern Randolph was the victim of a tough 55-33 loss at the hands of Williams. Eastern Randolph has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite their loss, Eastern Randolph saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Ziera Watson, who scored 11 points along with five steals, was perhaps the best of all. Watson scored a full 33.3% of Eastern Randolph's points, the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Kenly Whitaker was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Oak Grove waltzed into Tuesday's match with two straight wins but they left with three. They came out on top against Randleman by a score of 43-33.
The match pitted two dominant players against one another in Trista Charles and Audra Petty. Charles had a solid game and scored 16 points along with nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Petty did her best for the losing side, scoring eight points along with four steals.
Eastern Randolph has fallen quite a ways from their 19-8 record last season and are now at 1-4. As for Oak Grove, their win was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Eastern Randolph have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 32 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Oak Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 33.5 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Eastern Randolph was taken down by Oak Grove 67-32 when the teams last played back in December of 2021. Thankfully for Eastern Randolph, Zaire Jones (who scored 21 points along with eight rebounds and four steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
