If Pender was feeling good fresh off their 62-30 takedown of South Columbus last Tuesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Pender Patriots came up short against the East Columbus Gators on Tuesday, falling 49-26. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 521st, while the Gators are ranked 234th).
Kimora McAllister was Pender's leading scorer, having posted 12 points. Maddison Francis held things down on the boards with 13 rebounds. Jayda Tozour took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with four assists.
East Columbus was led to victory by Rylie Graham and Malia Graham. Rylie made all 6 shots she took for 15 points and seven steals, while Malia dropped a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Malia has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 11 times she's played. Another player making a difference was Malayah Hines, who posted 12 points in addition to six assists and four steals.
Pender has traveled a rocky road recently having lost six of their last eight matches, which has put a noticeable dent in their 3-8 record this season. As for East Columbus, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season.
Pender didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 24-21 loss against Heide Trask on the 5th. As for East Columbus, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 53-39 win against Whiteville on the 6th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
