Basketball Game Preview: Unaka Rangers vs. Cloudland Highlanders

The Unaka Rangers will take on the Cloudland Highlanders on Monday. Unaka is coming into the contest hot, having won their last four games.

Unaka will bounce into Monday's matchup after beating North Greene, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Unaka secured a 45-39 W over North Greene on Monday.

Unaka can attribute much of their success to Michelle Shields, who went 7-for-13 to rack up 18 points, and Brooklyn Campbell, who posted 12 points and seven rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Shields has scored at least a third of Unaka's points. Kalli Shepard was another key player, putting up nine points.

Washburn typically has all the answers at home, but on Friday Cloudland proved too difficult a challenge. They walked away with a 47-37 victory over the Pirates. The win continues a trend for the Highlanders in their matchups with the Pirates: they've now won three in a row.

Cloudland now has a winning record of 15-14. As for Unaka, their victory bumped their record up to 22-8.

Unaka beat Cloudland 53-43 when the teams last played last Saturday. The rematch might be a little tougher for Unaka since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.