Basketball Recap: Cox Mill Falls Short of Lake Norman in the Playoffs

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Cox Mill can now relate to. They were beaten by the Lake Norman Wildcats 85-40 on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, the Chargers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 256th in North Carolina, while the Wildcats are ranked tenth in North Carolina).

Several Chargers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Madison Alexander, who went 5-for-9 en route to 11 points and six boards. What's more, Alexander posted three assists, the most she's had since back in November of 2024. Another player making a difference was Lauren Farrell, who scored nine points.

Even though they lost, Cox Mill was working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. This was only their fourth loss (out of 15 games) when they've passed the ball that well.

Rayana Minard was her usual excellent self, going 6-for-11 to rack up 18 points and six steals for Lake Norman. Minard is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in each of the last 16 games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Samantha Shehan, who earned 16 points.

This is the second loss in a row for Cox Mill and nudges their season record down to 11-16. As for Lake Norman, the win was the 17th in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 25-1.

Cox Mill does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Lake Norman, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Northwest Guilford at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Lake Norman knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 17 matchups -- so hopefully Northwest Guilford likes a good challenge.