Basketball Game Preview: Whiteville Wolfpack vs. Lumberton Pirates

The Whiteville Wolfpack will take on the Lumberton Pirates in a holiday battle at at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Whiteville has struggled recently with ten defeats in a row, while Lumberton will arrive with three straight wins.

It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 63-14, which was the final score in Whiteville's tilt against North Myrtle Beach on Wednesday. The contest marked the Wolfpack's lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lumberton). They claimed a resounding 70-40 victory over Cape Fear. The Pirates have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matchups by 22 points or more this season.

Whiteville better focus on containing Andrea Brown and Charley Whitley as the pair were huge in Lumberton's win. Brown dropped a double-double on 22 points and 11 boards, while Whitley went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc on her way to 20 points along with six boards and five assists. The dominant performance also gave Brown a new career-high in steals (six). Sanaa Lesane was another key player, putting up 12 points and eight rebounds.

Lumberton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 16 offensive rebounds in four consecutive games.

Lumberton has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.2 points per game. As for Whiteville, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.

Whiteville came up short against Lumberton in their previous matchup back in December of 2022, falling 58-47. Can Whiteville avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.