The Palisades Pumas are on the road again on Thursday and play against the Broome Centurions at 3:00 p.m. on December 28th. Hopefully Palisades focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 on Friday.
Last Friday, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Palisades had to settle for a 47-44 defeat against Weddington. While losing is never fun, Palisades can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 323rd, while Weddington is ranked 101st).
Palisades' defeat came about despite a quality game from Tynilla Simpkins, who scored 16 points along with nine rebounds and five assists. Simpkins scored a full 36.4% of Palisades' points, the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Kyra Morris was another key contributor, scoring eight points.
Meanwhile, Broome didn't have too much trouble with Hillcrest on the road on Wednesday as they won 48-34. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Broome.
Broome can attribute much of their success to Dakota Mitchell, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. That's the first time this season that Mitchell scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Anaya Wofford, who scored seven points along with 12 rebounds and four steals.
Palisades' loss dropped their record down to 4-7. As for Broome, their victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 5-8.
Thursday's contest is shaping up to be a scrappy matchup: Palisades have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 38.2 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Broome, though, as they've been averaging only 35.3 rebounds per game. Given Palisades' sizeable advantage in that area, Broome will need to find a way to close that gap. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.
