Basketball Game Preview: Hickory Red Tornadoes vs. Foard Tigers

The Hickory Red Tornadoes will challenge the Foard Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Hickory will be strutting in after a victory while Foard will be coming in after a loss.

Hickory is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by West Iredell to the tune of 67-18 on Wednesday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Red Tornadoes as it put an end to their three-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, Foard took a blow against North Lincoln on Tuesday, falling 76-40. The match marked the Tigers' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Hickory will need focus on slowing down Kinzer Abernathy, one of several Foard players who made an impact when they last played. She posted 12 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jessica Bailey, who put up ten points and eight rebounds.

Hickory's victory was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-4 and their overall record up to 2-8. As for Foard, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-7.

Hickory might still be hurting after the 61-37 defeat they got from Foard when the teams last played back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bailey, who scored 18 points in addition to eight boards and four steals. Now that Hickory knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.