Basketball Game Preview: Cloudland Highlanders vs. Unaka Rangers

The Cloudland Highlanders will square off against the Unaka Rangers on Monday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Cloudland can't be too worried about heading out to take on Unaka: they just beat Washburn at home, who had been dominant on their own court up to that point. Cloudland came out on top against Washburn by a score of 47-37 on Friday. The victory continues a trend for the Highlanders in their matchups with the Pirates: they've now won three in a row.

Meanwhile, Unaka came tearing into Monday's game with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9 points), and they left with even more momentum. They came within six points of losing the streak, but they secured a 45-39 W against the Huskies.

Cloudland better focus on containing Michelle Shields and Brooklyn Campbell as the pair were huge in Unaka's win. Shields shot 54% from the field on her way to 18 points, while Campbell posted 12 points and seven boards. Shields' big performance that evening made it seven games in a row in which she has scored at least 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kalli Shepard, who scored nine points.

Unaka's record is now 22-8. As for Cloudland, they now have a winning record of 15-14.

Cloudland came up short against Unaka in their previous matchup last Saturday, falling 53-43. Can Cloudland avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.