The Hillcrest Patriots won the last time they faced the Pelham Panthers, and things went their way on Wednesday too. Hillcrest took down Pelham 61-46. Given Hillcrest's advantage in MaxPreps' Alabama basketball rankings (they are ranked 13th, while Pelham is ranked 142nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leading Hillcrest to victory were Nyeishia Davis and Jareah Branch. Davis scored 12 points, while Branch scored 14 points along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Sinaya Gibson, who scored 6 points along with 6 rebounds.
Despite the loss, Pelham saw an underclassman step up: Tee King scored 14 points. The match was King's eighth in a row with at least ten points.
Pelham struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Hillcrest racked up 13.
Hillcrest has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season. As for Pelham, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-6.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Hillcrest will take on Hewitt-Trussville at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. As for Pelham, they will be playing at home against Marbury at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Marbury focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 last Monday.
