Basketball Game Preview: Croatan Cougars vs. Swansboro Pirates

Croatan is on a five-game streak of home wins, while Swansboro is on a six-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Croatan Cougars will host the Swansboro Pirates at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

If Swansboro heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Croatan took over last week. Croatan enjoyed a cozy 45-26 victory over Dixon on Friday. The 45-point effort marked the Cougars' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Croatan's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Hannah Buchan, who posted nine points and eight steals. Those eight steals gave Buchan a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Layla Shearin, who earned ten points in addition to seven boards and five assists.

Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Swansboro's strategy against Richlands on Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Swansboro blew Richlands out of the water with a 56-24 final score. The Pirates have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five games by 27 points or more this season.

Swansboro has also been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. As for Croatan, their victory bumped their record up to 10-1.

Croatan was able to grind out a solid win over Swansboro when the teams last played on Tuesday, winning 52-43. Will Croatan repeat their success, or does Swansboro have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.