The Swansboro Pirates just played last yesterday, but they'll still welcome the Croatan Cougars at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Monday, Swansboro blew past Richlands, posting a 59-21 victory. The Pirates have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 27 points or more this season.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Croatan beat White Oak 50-44 last Friday. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while the Vikings are ranked 434th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Croatan's win came from a few key players Swansboro will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Neely McMannen, who posted 15 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. The game was her third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Leah Johnson, who put up eight points in addition to seven boards and six blocks.
Croatan pushed their record up to 8-1 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.2 points per game. As for Swansboro, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a massive bump to their 8-4 record this season.
Swansboro couldn't quite finish off Croatan in their previous matchup back in February of 2024 and fell 38-36. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of McMannen, who went 5 for 10 on her way to 13 points along with five steals and three blocks. Now that Swansboro knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
