The Carolina M Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Crossroads Christian Colts at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
In what's become a running theme this season, Carolina M gave their fans yet another huge victory on Tuesday. They breezed by Cristo Rey Research Triangle at home to the tune of 54-13. Given Carolina M's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 275th, while the Bulls are ranked 606th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Carolina M can attribute much of their success to Rivkah Lloyd, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine steals, and Eliana Mah, who scored 20 points along with five rebounds and five steals. Lloyd is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed four or more in the last six games she's played. Another player making a difference was Abigail Faison, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Crossroads Christian entered their tilt with the Eagles with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Crossroads Christian took down the Eagles 52-36 on Friday. Crossroads Christian pushed the score to 48-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Eagles cut but never quite recovered from.
Elyssa Phillps continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 22 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Crossroads Christian's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Mattie Grissom, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 12 rebounds.
Carolina M's victory was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-4. As for Crossroads Christian, their win bumped their record up to 12-4.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Carolina M have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Crossroads Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.3 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Carolina M suffered a grim 61-36 defeat to the Colts in their previous meeting last Tuesday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Phillps, who scored 21 points along with five assists. Now that Carolina M knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
