After four games on the road, Halifax Academy is heading back home. They will take on the Pungo Christian Academy Raiders at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Pungo Christian Academy took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Halifax Academy, who comes in off a win.
On Tuesday, Halifax Academy was able to grind out a solid victory over Fayetteville Academy, taking the game 45-38.
Halifax Academy's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Karson Ricks, who scored 17 points along with 5 steals, and Hayden Hilton, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it four consecutive games in which Hilton has scored at least 25% of Halifax Academy's points. Another player making a difference was Maddy Bethel, who scored 2 points along with 7 rebounds and 4 steals.
Meanwhile, Pungo Christian Academy's 23-4 record from last season is now well into the rear view mirror after another tough outing. They had to suffer through a rough 65-23 loss at the hands of John Paul II Catholic. While losing is never fun, Pungo Christian Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 142nd, while John Paul II Catholic is ranked 31st).
Allison Sawyer was Pungo Christian Academy's leading scorer, having posted nine points. Sawyer also led the team in rebounds with 11.
Julia Rouse took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with two assists.
The win got Halifax Academy back to even at 2-2. As for Pungo Christian Academy, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-3.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's contest: Halifax Academy have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.8% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Pungo Christian Academy, though, as they've only made 25.8% of theirs this season. Given Halifax Academy's sizeable advantage in that area, Pungo Christian Academy will need to find a way to close that gap. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
