Western Hills has been on the road for five straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Aiken Falcons at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Western Hills knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past 20 matchups -- so hopefully Aiken likes a good challenge.
Western Hills pushed their score all the way to 67 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell just short of Woodward by a score of 69-67. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Tuesday (64), Western Hills still had to take the loss.
Even though Aiken has not done well against Woodward recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Aiken came out on top against Woodward by a score of 75-68. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Aiken's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was James Burnett, who scored 20 points along with two steals. Burnett has been hot recently, having posted 18 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jaiden Arnold, who scored 16 points along with six assists.
Western Hills has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 15-5 record this season. As for Aiken, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season.
Western Hills opened the new year with a less-than-successful 75-65 defeat to Aiken. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Arnold, who scored 22 points along with six assists and three steals. Now that Western Hills knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
