Preview: Hickory Ridge Ragin' Bulls vs. Cox Mill Chargers
Hickory Ridge is 10-0 against Cox Mill since January of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Hickory Ridge Ragin' Bulls will head out on the road to challenge the Cox Mill Chargers at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Hickory Ridge came tearing into last Wednesday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 33 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past South Iredell 60-39. Given Hickory Ridge's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 42nd, while South Iredell is ranked 283rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Hickory Ridge to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ma-kaela Gidney, who scored 22 points along with five steals. Gidney has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last 12 times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Sheree Gidney, who scored 18 points along with nine rebounds and five assists.
Cox Mill posted their biggest win since December 5, 2023 on Wednesday. Everything went their way against A.L. Brown as Cox Mill made off with a 50-26 victory. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory Cox Mill has posted against A.L. Brown since January 26, 2021.
Hickory Ridge's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.6 points per game. As for Cox Mill, their win bumped their record up to 7-8.
Hickory Ridge didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Cox Mill when the teams last played back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 44-40 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hickory Ridge since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
