The Oakland Patriots had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 38 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They escaped with a win against Blackman by the margin of a single free throw, 52-51. This was a revenge game for Oakland, as the team was forced to settle for a 49-44 loss when these two played last Thursday.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Oakland to victory, but perhaps none more so than Amaya Nash, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds. Chloe Phillips was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
When it comes to explaining why Blackman lost, one person who can't be blamed is Kaelyn Flowers. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double on 27 points and ten rebounds. It was the first time this season that Flowers pulled down eight or more rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Lyriq Mastin, who scored 18 points.
Oakland is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-10 record this season. As for Blackman, their loss dropped their record down to 12-8.
Oakland will head out on the road to square off against Riverdale at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Oakland is facing Riverdale at the right time seeing as Riverdale is stuck on a three-game losing streak. As for Blackman, they and Rockvale will face off at 6:00 p.m. on February 6th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Blackman is coming into the contest with four straight losses at home, meaning Rockvale will have to defend against a squad hungry for a victory.
