The Berry Cardinal's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their eighth straight loss. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 43-42 to Olympic. The result was an unpleasant reminder to Berry of the 46-30 loss they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in January.
Despite the loss, Berry still got an impressive performance from Zahnia Long, who scored 22 points along with five steals. Another player making a difference was Parker Breelove, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Olympic found their leader in underclassman Chai James, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 17 rebounds. That makes it five consecutive games in which James has scored at least a third of Olympic's points. Jasmyn Ashbourne was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with two steals.
Berry dropped their record down to 2-18 with that loss, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 27.8 points per game. As for Olympic, their victory bumped their record up to 13-10.
Berry will head out on the road to square off against South Mecklenburg at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Berry will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 457th, while South Mecklenburg is ranked 137th). As for Olympic, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 45-34 victory vs. Harding University on the 17th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
