Basketball Game Preview: North Mecklenburg Vikings vs. Mallard Creek Mavericks

North Mecklenburg and Mallard Creek are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2021, but not for long. The North Mecklenburg Vikings will square off against the Mallard Creek Mavericks at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Mallard Creek will be up against a hot North Mecklenburg team: the squad just extended their winning streak to eight. North Mecklenburg blew past Harding University 74-14 on Tuesday. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Vikings had established a 53 point advantage.

Meanwhile, Mallard Creek had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.7 points) and they went ahead and made it seven on Tuesday. They really took it to the Titans for the full four quarters, racking up an 82-33 win. The Mavericks' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.

Mallard Creek's win came from a few key players North Mecklenburg will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Elle Stone, who went 10 for 20 en route to 20 points in addition to five assists and five steals. She is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last three games she's played. My?Asia Young was another key player, going 5 of 9 on her way to 14 points along with six boards and five steals.

Mallard Creek was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in February of 2024.

Mallard Creek pushed their record up to 17-2 with the victory, which was their 20th straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.0 points per game. As for North Mecklenburg, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-2 record this season.

North Mecklenburg couldn't quite finish off Mallard Creek when the teams last played on January 3rd and fell 54-52. Can North Mecklenburg avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.