West Laurens is 2-8 against the Braves since February of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The West Laurens Raiders will head out on the road to challenge the Baldwin Braves at 7:30 p.m. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: West Laurens has struggled recently with ten defeats in a row, while the Braves will arrive with seven straight victories.
West Laurens pushed their score all the way to 59 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 69-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of Perry.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Dorian Watkins, who scored 13 points along with seven rebounds. Jumarie Hill was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with five steals.
Meanwhile, Baldwin was able to grind out a solid win over the Seminoles on Tuesday, taking the game 63-52. Given Baldwin's advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Seminoles are ranked 183rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tremarius Lawrence continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 23 points along with eight rebounds. He has been hot recently, having posted 19 or more points the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Karez Demory, who scored 14 points along with four steals.
West Laurens dropped their record down to 2-18 with that loss, which was their ninth straight on the road. As for Baldwin, they are on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-2 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: West Laurens have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.1 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Baldwin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
West Laurens was dealt a bruising 88-54 defeat at the hands of the Braves in their previous meeting back in January. The match was all but decided by halftime, at which point West Laurens was down 51-16.
