The St. Joseph's Catholic Knights struggled with offensive rebounds on Tuesday (the Pickens Blue Flame had 1100% more) and sadly the final score reflected it. The game between the two teams wasn't particularly close, with St. Joseph's Catholic falling 54-37. While losing is never fun, they can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 86th, while Pickens is ranked third).
St. Joseph's Catholic's lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Evie Adams, who scored 16 points. Caroline Mruz was another key contributor, scoring 10 points.
Pickens found their leader in underclassman Ava Owens, who scored 18 points along with 7 assists and 6 rebounds. That makes it five consecutive games in which Owens has scored at least 25% of Pickens' points. The team also got some help courtesy of Maggie Chambers, who scored 15 points along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
This is the second loss in a row for St. Joseph's Catholic and nudges their season record down to 4-3. As for Pickens, the win for they keeps them at an undefeated 6-0.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. St. Joseph's Catholic will challenge John Paul II at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. John Paul II knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past three games -- so hopefully St. Joseph's Catholic likes a good challenge. As for Pickens, they will head out on the road to face off against West-Oak at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday. West-Oak will be looking to keep their three-game home win streak alive.
