The Paulding County Patriots had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They rang in the new year with a 54-44 victory over South Paulding. With that win, Paulding County brought their scoring average up to 50.1 points per game.
Paulding County's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Alexus Wilson led the charge by dropping a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Wilson has scored at least 25% of Paulding County's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Sam Erves, who scored nine points along with three steals.
Several Spartans players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Chloe Vandyke, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds. Lindsey Henry was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Paulding County has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a massive bump to their 8-6 record this season. As for South Paulding, they are on a nine-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-12.
Paulding County won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Langston Hughes at 6:00 p.m. on January 5th. Langston Hughes knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past eight contests -- so hopefully Paulding County likes a good challenge. South Paulding won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Kennesaw Mountain at 6:00 p.m. on January 5th. Kennesaw Mountain is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
