Preview: Hempstead Bobcats vs. East Bernard Brahmas
Hempstead has been on the road for three straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will be home for the holidays to greet the East Bernard Brahmas at 6:00 p.m. Hempstead will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Texas Rankings (they are ranked 1365th, while East Bernard is ranked 581st).
Last Saturday, Hempstead was the victim of a rough 46-22 loss at the hands of Royal.
East Bernard has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five contests by 22 points or more this season. They were the clear victor by a 59-36 margin over Danbury. 59 seems to be a good number for East Bernard as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
East Bernard got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Ashlynn Lemos out in front who scored 17 points along with seven steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which Lemos has scored at least 25% of East Bernard's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Abby Hudgins, who scored nine points along with five assists and five steals.
Hempstead's loss was their 13th straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-12. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 19.9 points per game. As for East Bernard, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-6 record this season.
Hempstead took a serious blow against East Bernard when the teams last played back in January, falling 67-33. Can Hempstead avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
