Basketball Game Preview: Calhoun County Saints vs. North Eagles

The Calhoun County Saints are taking a road trip to square off against the North Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Calhoun County is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Lakewood just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Saturday. They came up short against the Gators, falling 62-37. While losing is never fun, the Saints can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 209th, while the Gators are ranked 63rd).

Meanwhile, North had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 33 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Ridgeland 93-59. The Eagles pushed the score to 64-34 by the end of the third, a deficit Ridgeland had little chance of recovering from.

Calhoun County better keep an eye on Nasiah Rhodes. He was instrumental in North's win, going 11 of 12 en route to 24 points in addition to eight boards and three blocks. Those 24 points gave Rhodes a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Stetson Stacks, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds.

North smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 22 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 14 offensive boards in four consecutive games.

North pushed their record up to 10-8 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 94.3 points per game. As for Calhoun County, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-6.

Calhoun County might still be hurting after the 87-65 loss they got from North in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Stacks, who went 12 for 18 on his way to 31 points along with seven steals and five boards. Now that Calhoun County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.