Preview: Eastside Eagles vs. Clarke Central Gladiators
The Eastside Eagles will be home for the holidays to greet the Clarke Central Gladiators at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Eastside comes in on six and Clarke Central on three.
Eastside has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three matches by 25 points or more this season. They were the clear victor by a 63-38 margin over Heritage. Given Eastside's advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 82nd, while Heritage is ranked 313th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Eastside's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Aysia Spivey led the charge by scoring 21 points along with seven rebounds and five steals. Spivey continues to roll, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Donee Morain, who scored 19 points along with eight rebounds and four steals.
Even though Clarke Central has not done well against Winder-Barrow recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Clarke Central walked away with a 45-37 victory over Winder-Barrow.
Eastside pushed their record up to 6-1 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.7 points per game. As for Clarke Central, their victory ended a ten-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-3.
Eastside beat Clarke Central 56-49 in their previous meeting back in January. Will Eastside repeat their success, or does Clarke Central have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
