Basketball Recap: East Mecklenburg Comes Up Short

If East Mecklenburg was riding high fresh off their 45-25 takedown of Independence last Friday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The East Mecklenburg Eagles took a 70-60 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Charlotte Catholic Cougars on Tuesday. The defeat continues a trend for the Eagles in their matchups with the Cougars: they've now lost nine in a row.

Jurnee Darling

Points (Career)

02/11/25 vs Charlotte Catholic	22
01/29/25 vs Central Cabarrus	20
01/26/24 vs Rocky River	20
01/28/25 vs Garinger	19
12/03/24 vs Sun Valley	16

When it comes to explaining why East Mecklenburg lost, don't look at Jurnee Darling. Despite the final result, she went 9-for-16 on her way to 22 points. Those 22 points gave Darling a new career-high. Samariah Freeman was another key player, putting up 15 points along with five rebounds and three steals.

Maggie Kernodle was her usual excellent self, going 9-for-17 to rack up 26 points for Charlotte Catholic. Kernodle's evening made it three games in a row in which she has scored at least 17 points. Another player making a difference was Kailey Richard, who posted 14 points.

East Mecklenburg's loss dropped their record down to 7-16. As for Charlotte Catholic, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 15-9 record this season.

East Mecklenburg has already played their next contest, a 48-44 defeat against Providence on the 14th. Charlotte Catholic does not have any more games scheduled as of now.