Basketball Game Preview: Lejeune Devil Pups vs. Pamlico County Hurricanes

Lejeune is 1-9 against Pamlico County since January of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Lejeune Devil Pups are taking a road trip to challenge the Pamlico County Hurricanes at 6:00 p.m.

Lejeune is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Northside - Pinetown on Wednesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Lejeune was dealt a 65-27 loss at the hands of Northside - Pinetown. While losing is never fun, the Devil Pups can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 548th, while the Panthers are ranked 152nd).

Meanwhile, Pamlico County had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 28 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Tuesday. They came out on top against the Seahawks by a score of 61-49.

Lejeune better focus on containing Sydney Whitley-Reese and Nya Clark as the pair were huge in Pamlico County's win. Whitley-Reese dropped a double-double on 18 points and 16 rebounds, while Clark went 10 for 22 en route to 26 points. Clark's evening made it four games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyliyah Barber, who posted seven points along with nine steals and five boards.

Pamlico County smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in three consecutive games.

Pamlico County is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.1 points per game. As for Lejeune, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-13.

Lejeune was taken down by Pamlico County 65-20 when the teams last played two weeks ago. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Lejeune was down 38-8.