After flying high against the Seneca Bobcats on Wednesday, the Easley Green Wave came back down to earth. Easley took a 57-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of Walhalla on Thursday. While losing is never fun, Easley can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 152nd, while Walhalla is ranked 45th).
When it comes to explaining why Easley lost, one person who can't be blamed is Olivia Gramblin. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds. Those 16 points set a new season-high mark for her. The team also got some help courtesy of Ava Proctor, who scored seven points along with four steals.
Even though they lost, Easley were working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Gianna Ortiz-Viera continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Walhalla, dropping a double-double on 20 points and ten rebounds. Ortiz-Viera hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for seven straight games. Marnie Baxter was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Easley's defeat was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-5. As for Walhalla, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
Easley will be playing in front of their home fans against Wade Hampton at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Walhalla won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Rabun County at 6:30 p.m. on December 8th. Rabun County knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past six matchups -- so hopefully Walhalla likes a good challenge.
