Franklinton is on a 11-game streak of home wins, while Rocky Mount is on a 16-game streak of away wins (dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Franklinton Rams will take on the Rocky Mount Gryphons at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Franklinton scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Friday. They claimed a resounding 69-30 victory over Northern Nash at home. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 38-12.
Franklinton relied on the efforts of Mikayla Taborn, who scored 20 points along with two steals, and Asia Burton, who scored 24 points along with five assists and four steals. Burton is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in the last four games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Rihanna Hunt, who scored ten points along with two blocks.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the contest if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Rocky Mount's strategy against Southern Nash on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Rocky Mount blew Southern Nash out of the water with a 63-23 final score. Given Rocky Mount's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 94th, while Southern Nash is ranked 403rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
McKinley Battle continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 20 points along with six rebounds and six steals. She has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. Kaitlin White was another key contributor, scoring five points along with seven rebounds and five steals.
Franklinton's victory bumped their record up to 19-1. As for Rocky Mount, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-4 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Franklinton hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.4 points per game. However, it's not like Rocky Mount struggles in that department as they've been averaging 57 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Franklinton was able to grind out a solid win over Rocky Mount in their previous matchup back in January, winning 58-49. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Battle, who dropped a double-double on 31 points and ten rebounds. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Franklinton still be able to contain Battle? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
