The St. Joseph's Catholic Knights will challenge the Powdersville Patriots at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Tuesday, St. Joseph's Catholic made easy work of Carolina Academy and carried off a 57-35 win. Given the Knights' advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 100th, while the Trojans are ranked 208th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. Joseph's Catholic found their leader in freshman Evie Adams, who posted 17 points and eight rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Tiffany Helmer, who earned 15 points.
St. Joseph's Catholic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 20 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in ten consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Powdersville came tearing into Wednesday's contest with 11 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 67-21 victory over the Sabres. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 31-11.
St. Joseph's Catholic better focus on containing Raegan Bryant and Makayla Assemian as the pair were huge in Powdersville's win. Bryant went 10 of 19 on her way to 26 points along with six assists and four steals, while Assemian dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten boards. The contest was Assemian's ninth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Ella Davidson, who went 5 for 10 en route to 10 points and seven rebounds.
Powdersville has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 16 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 15-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.0 points per game. As for St. Joseph's Catholic, their win bumped their record up to 10-7.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: St. Joseph's Catholic has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 33.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Powdersville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.5 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
St. Joseph's Catholic ended up a good deal behind Powdersville in their previous matchup back in January, losing 65-51. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Assemian, who dropped a double-double on 29 points and 12 rebounds. Now that St. Joseph's Catholic knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
