After a string of three wins, the Grace Academy Lions's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. Their rough 50-25 loss to Liberty Preparatory Christian might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Grace Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 445th, while Liberty Preparatory Christian is ranked 207th).
Despite the loss, Grace Academy had strong showings from Kalista Pressley, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds, and Kaleigh Tyson, who scored two points along with seven rebounds. Pressley scored a full 48% of Grace Academy's points, the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Even though they lost, Grace Academy were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Liberty Preparatory Christian only pulled down 29 offensive rebounds.
Liberty Preparatory Christian found their leader in underclassman Leia Garrett, who scored 14 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Garrett is absolutely dominating the block category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Lyla Hammack, who scored 11 points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Grace Academy's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 3-3. As for Liberty Preparatory Christian, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2.
Grace Academy will face off against Queen's Grant at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Queen's Grant comes in on a streak of failing to score more than 12 points in their last six games, a trend the team is of course eager to reverse. Liberty Preparatory Christian won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Fletcher at 5:00 p.m. on December 13th.
