Preview: Independence 76ers vs. Africentric Early College Nubians
Independence is 0-10 against Africentric Early College since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Independence 76ers will head out on the road to take on the Africentric Early College Nubians at 6:00 p.m. Independence will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Ohio Rankings (they are ranked 696th, while Africentric Early College is ranked 91st).
Independence suffered their biggest loss since November 29, 2023 last Tuesday. They were outmatched by Walnut Ridge at home and fell 57-27. Independence has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, Africentric Early College had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 61.8 points), and they went ahead and made it seven on Tuesday. They blew past South 93-23 on the road. Africentric Early College has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 13 matches by 26 points or more this season.
Africentric Early College got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Kamryn Grant out in front who scored 20 points along with seven rebounds. Grant hasn't dropped below 15points for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Natiah Nelson, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
Independence's defeat dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Africentric Early College, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-2 record this season.
Independence took a serious blow against Africentric Early College in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 95-8. Can Independence avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
