On Saturday, the Nitro Wildcats faced the Philip Barbour Colts in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Nitro blew past Philip Barbour 81-59. Nitro has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matches by 21 points or more this season.
Nitro was led to victory by Karson Jones and Natalie Smith. Jones scored 18 points along with eight rebounds and two blocks, while Smith dropped a double-double on 20 points and 13 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Mika Adams, who scored nine points along with two steals.
Despite the loss, Philip Barbour still got an impressive performance from Braylyn Sparks, who scored 16 points along with three steals. Sparks has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. Rylee Bodkins was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Nitro's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.7 points per game. As for Philip Barbour, their loss dropped their record down to 9-2.
Nitro will be playing at home against Logan at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Logan will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps West Virginia Rankings (they are ranked 48th, while Nitro is ranked tenth). As for Philip Barbour, they will head out on the road to take on Lincoln at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
