Basketball Recap: Dynamic Duo of Riley Trimble and Ava Kita Lead Topsail to Victory

Pirates

Previous 5 Games

01/14/25 vs East Bladen	60-52
01/09/25 vs West Brunswick	42-40
01/07/25 @ Hoggard	25-55
01/03/25 @ South Brunswick	46-31
12/20/24 vs White Oak	56-36

Topsail won the last time they faced East Bladen and things went their way on Tuesday too. The Topsail Pirates came out on top against the East Bladen Eagles by a score of 60-52. With that win, the Pirates brought their scoring average up to 50.3 points per game.

Topsail was led to victory by Ava Kita and Riley Trimble. Kita dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten boards, while Trimble posted 11 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals. Kita is on a roll when it comes to boards, as she's now pulled down eight or more in the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Sailor Heitmann, who had two points along with five assists and three steals.

Several Eagles players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was NeNe Ward, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten rebounds. The dominant performance gave Ward a new career-high in boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Laila Smith, who went 10 for 15 en route to 24 points in addition to seven rebounds and three blocks.

Topsail has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season. As for East Bladen, their defeat ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 12-3.

Topsail and East Bladen should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings. Topsail will challenge North Brunswick at 6:00 p.m. on Friday up 293 places (113 vs. 406). Topsail will be looking to keep their four-game home win streak alive. Similarly, East Bladen (ranked 107th) will meet Whiteville (ranked 539th) at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.