After a string of four wins, the Pender Patriots's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They took a 74-56 bruising from East Bladen. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Pender in their matchups with East Bladen: they've now lost nine in a row.
Several Patriots players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Linde Cline, who scored 18 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cline has scored all season. Jamiah Johnson was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
Leading East Bladen to victory were NeNe Ward and Laila Smith. Ward dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 steals, while Smith dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten rebounds. Smith hasn't dropped below two steals for 21 straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Cabria Baldwin, who scored nine points along with two steals.
Pender now has a losing record at 10-11. As for East Bladen, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 21-3 record this season.
Pender does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for East Bladen, they won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against East Columbus at 6:00 p.m. on February 23rd.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
