The Freedom Christian Academy Patriots will challenge The O'Neal School Falcons at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Tuesday, Freedom Christian Academy took their game with ease, bagging a 58-9 win over Village Christian Academy. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 269th, while the Knights are ranked 612th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
02/04/25 vs Village Christian Academy | 19 |
01/31/25 vs Village Christian Academy | 10 |
01/29/25 vs Trinity Christian | 13 |
01/28/25 vs The O'Neal School | 16 |
01/24/25 @ Berean Baptist Academy | 16 |
Freedom Christian Academy found their leader in sophomore Allison Lett, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and 19 rebounds. Lett has been hot, having posted ten or more boards the last five times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Angel West, who posted two points and eight steals.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask The O'Neal School). They claimed a resounding 69-16 victory over Northwood Temple Academy. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 41-9.
The O'Neal School's win came from a few key players Freedom Christian Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kennedi Hamner, who dropped a triple-double on 17 points, 12 rebounds, and ten steals. Those ten steals gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Judah Sibley, who went 8 of 18 en route to 20 points in addition to six assists and six steals.
The O'Neal School smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in four consecutive matches.
The O'Neal School pushed their record up to 12-6 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 21.8 points per game. As for Freedom Christian Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-7 record this season.
Freedom Christian Academy didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against The O'Neal School in their previous matchup last Tuesday, but they still walked away with a 54-48 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Freedom Christian Academy since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.