Preview: Bertie Falcons vs. Hertford County Bears
The Bertie Falcons will be playing in front of their home fans against the Hertford County Bears at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
A well-balanced attack led Bertie over Tarboro in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Bertie blew Tarboro out of the water with a 48-21 final score. That 27 point margin sets a new team best for Bertie this season.
It was another big night for Rakiyah Peele, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 14 rebounds. That makes it 11 consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Bertie's points. Kydra Brown was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with seven steals and six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Hertford County didn't have too much trouble with Camden County at home on Friday as they won 51-36. Given Hertford County's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 160th, while Camden County is ranked 462nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jaliyah Mitchell continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 25 points and 12 rebounds. She is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 18 games she's played. Another player making a difference was Brooklynn White, who scored ten points along with two steals.
Bertie's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-9. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.7 points per game. As for Hertford County, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season.
Saturday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Bertie have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 50.9% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Hertford County struggles in that department as they've made 38.8% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Bertie came up short against Hertford County when the teams last played back in January, falling 57-44. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mitchell, who dropped a double-double on 29 points and 16 rebounds. Now that Bertie knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
