If the Sugar Creek Wildcats were feeling good off their 69-41 takedown of the Garinger Wildcats on Thursday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. Sugar Creek fell 64-55 to Palisades on Friday. While losing is never fun, Sugar Creek can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 378th, while Palisades is ranked 159th).
Sugar Creek lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Aidan Gatewood, who scored 13 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. The contest was Gatewood's sixth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Ajaylon Ingram- Moore, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten rebounds.
Palisades found their leader in underclassman Kingston Henry, who scored 21 points along with six assists. Those 21 points set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Jyler Standifer , who scored 12 points.
Sugar Creek's loss dropped their record down to 7-6. As for Palisades, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Sugar Creek will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Queen's Grant at 7:00 p.m. on January 5, 2024. Hopefully Queen's Grant focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 last Friday. Palisades will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against Kings Mountain at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Kings Mountain has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 410 points over their last six matchups.
