Preview: Sweetwater Wildcats vs. Roane County Yellowjackets
Sweetwater is 9-1 against Roane County since November of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Sweetwater Wildcats will be home for the holidays to greet the Roane County Yellowjackets at 6:00 p.m. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Sweetwater has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Roane County will arrive with six straight victories.
Last Tuesday, it was a hard-fought contest, but Sweetwater had to settle for a 43-41 defeat against Meigs County.
Despite their defeat, Sweetwater saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Chris Alford, who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Alford scored a full 39% of Sweetwater's points, the seventh time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Campbell Hicks, who scored ten points.
Roane County has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 27 points or more this season. They claimed a resounding 90-54 victory over Polk County at home. With that victory, Roane County brought their scoring average up to 52 points per game.
It was another big night for Aaron Layne, who scored 24 points along with nine rebounds. The match was his seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Clifton, who scored 11 points along with nine rebounds.
Sweetwater's defeat was their third straight at home, which bumped their record down to 4-5. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.0 points per game. As for Roane County, their win bumped their record up to 8-3.
Sweetwater was able to grind out a solid victory over Roane County in their previous meeting back in February, winning 66-55. Will Sweetwater repeat their success, or does Roane County have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
