Preview: Laney Buccaneers vs. East Bladen Eagles
After both having extra time off, the Laney Buccaneers and the East Bladen Eagles will dust off their jerseys to face off against one another at 3:00 p.m. on December 28th. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Laney comes in on seven and East Bladen on four.
Laney has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three matchups by 26 points or more this season. Everything went their way against Ashley last Friday as Laney made off with a 48-22 victory. Given Laney's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 48th, while Ashley is ranked 147th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Laney's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Piper Conklin, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 12 rebounds. Those 12 rebounds set a new season-high mark for her. The team also got some help courtesy of Aniece Lewis, who scored ten points along with four steals.
East Bladen has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three matches by 20 points or more this season. They breezed by South Columbus at home to the tune of 61-33.
Laney's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-0. They've been dominating during the matches in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 19.67 points. As for East Bladen, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.
Laney didn't have too much breathing room in their match against East Bladen in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, but they still walked away with a 48-42 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was East Bladen's Maegan Burney, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds and three steals. Now that she won't be playing on Thursday, will it be that much easier for Laney to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
