Preview: Leesville Road Pride vs. Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders
Leesville Road is 0-10 against Cardinal Gibbons since February of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Leesville Road Pride will take on the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders at 5:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Leesville Road comes in on three and Cardinal Gibbons on 12.
Last Wednesday, Leesville Road beat Broughton 61-52.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Leesville Road to victory, but perhaps none more so than Molly Zuburg, who scored 17 points along with two steals. Zuburg is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last four games she's played. Another player making a difference was Finley Lewis, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up seven more assists than your opponent, a fact Cardinal Gibbons proved on Wednesday. They walked away with a 57-47 win over Athens Drive. Given Cardinal Gibbons' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 118th, while Athens Drive is ranked 307th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kaylee Fitzsimmons was a one-man wrecking crew for Cardinal Gibbons as she scored 26 points along with three steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fitzsimmons has scored all season. Tessa Gladieux was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with eight rebounds.
Leesville Road is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season. As for Cardinal Gibbons, their win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-7.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Leesville Road have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Cardinal Gibbons struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.5 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Leesville Road ended up a good deal behind Cardinal Gibbons when the teams last played two weeks ago, losing 64-50. Can Leesville Road avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps