The St. Luke's Episcopal Wildcats will take on the Bryant Hurricanes in a holiday battle at 10:00 a.m. on Friday at. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Alabama (St. Luke's Episcopal is ranked 184th, while Bryant is ranked 159th).
Two weeks ago, St. Luke's Episcopal came up short against St. Michael Catholic and fell 46-34. St. Luke's Episcopal has struggled against St. Michael Catholic recently, as their game two weeks ago was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, St. Luke's Episcopal got a solid performance out of Armani Coleman, who scored 13 points along with seven rebounds. Those 13 points set a new season-high mark for her. Kalaysia Robinson was another key contributor, scoring six points along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bryant waltzed into their contest Friday with four straight wins but they left with five. They walked away with a 69-57 win over Mobile Christian. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Madi-Marie Grayson was her usual excellent self, scoring 36 points along with eight steals and five assists. The contest was her eighth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Mari-Margret Grayson, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds and five assists.
St. Luke's Episcopal's defeat dropped their record down to 2-2. As for Bryant, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 8-5 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. Luke's Episcopal have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 25.8 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Bryant, though, as they've been averaging only 17.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Luke's Episcopal ended up a good deal behind Bryant when the teams last played back in December of 2018, losing 66-50. Can St. Luke's Episcopal avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.