Basketball Game Preview: North Duplin Rebels vs. East Duplin Panthers

North Duplin is 1-9 against East Duplin since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The North Duplin Rebels will head out to take on the East Duplin Panthers at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

North Duplin is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Lejeune: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that North Duplin blew Lejeune out of the water with a 51-14 final score. The game marked the Rebels' most dominant win of the season so far.

Tateyawna Faison was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 17 points and 14 boards. Faison is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: she's pulled down at least 13 every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Maggie Brown, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten rebounds.

Meanwhile, East Duplin waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 55-17 victory over the Wildcats. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 27-7.

North Duplin better focus on containing Jamyah Pickett and Zakoya Farrior as the pair were huge in East Duplin's win. Pickett dropped a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Farrior posted 13 points. Farrior is trending in the right direction considering she's improved her point production for three straight games. Andraia Scarborough was another key player, putting up eight points.

East Duplin's win was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-1. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 26.5 points. As for North Duplin, their victory bumped their record up to 3-1.

North Duplin took a serious blow against East Duplin in their previous meeting on Friday, falling 60-31. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of East Duplin's Kinsey Cave, who went 7 of 12 on her way to 19 points and six rebounds. Now that North Duplin knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.