Basketball Recap: Olympic Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Arianna Shaw and Chaya James

Olympic suffered their biggest loss since February 13th on Tuesday. They lost 62-37 to the South Mecklenburg Sabres. While losing is never fun, the Trojans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 264th, while the Sabres are ranked 67th).

Arianna Shaw

Points

12/29/23 vs Winthrop College Prep Academy	17
12/01/23 vs Statesville	15
12/17/24 vs South Mecklenburg	14
12/07/23 vs Hopewell	13
02/17/24 vs Harding University	13

Despite the defeat, Olympic had strong showings from Chaya James, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten boards, and Arianna Shaw, who posted 14 points. That's the most points Shaw has posted since back in December of 2023.

Even though they lost, Olympic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in seven consecutive matches.

Leading South Mecklenburg to victory were Kaitlyn Hensley and Chloe Grant. Hensley went 5 of 10 on her way to 15 points and seven rebounds, while Grant went 5 of 12 on her way to 11 points in addition to six rebounds and three blocks. Hensley is trending in the right direction considering she's improved her point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of KB Brown, who had ten points.

Olympic now has a losing record at 3-4. As for South Mecklenburg, their win bumped their record up to 9-2.

Olympic won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Porter Ridge at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Porter Ridge knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five games -- so hopefully Olympic likes a good challenge. As for South Mecklenburg, they will host Berry at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. South Mecklenburg is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 55.2 points per game this season.