The Neuse Charter Cougars will venture away from home to challenge the North Duplin Rebels at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Neuse Charter is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They claimed a resounding 76-12 victory over Ascend Leadership. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 173rd, while the Aviators are ranked 551st), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lily Temple
| 01/08/25 @ Ascend Leadership | 22 |
| 01/06/25 vs Wayne Country Day | 15 |
| 12/27/24 vs North Johnston | 21 |
| 12/26/24 vs Martin County | 21 |
Lily Temple was her usual excellent self, putting up 22 points in addition to eight steals and seven assists. Her evening made it four games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Addyson Barefoot, who posted 21 points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals.
Neuse Charter smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, North Duplin came tearing into Wednesday's match with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victor by a 66-42 margin over the Bears. The Rebels pushed the score to 51-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bears cut but never quite recovered from.
Neuse Charter better focus on containing Addy Higginbotham and Tateyawna Faison as the pair were huge in North Duplin's win. Higginbotham dropped a double-double on 24 points and ten steals, while Faison dropped a double-double on 20 points and 25 boards. Faison is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: she's pulled down at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Lilly Fulghum, who posted nine points.
North Duplin has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.3 points per game. As for Neuse Charter, their win bumped their record up to 14-4.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Neuse Charter has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 27.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like North Duplin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 36.5 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Neuse Charter suffered a grim 60-38 defeat to North Duplin in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Higginbotham, who had 30 points. Now that Neuse Charter knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
