St. Stephens is 0-10 against the Red Tornadoes since February of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The St. Stephens Indians will head out on the road to take on the Hickory Red Tornadoes at 7:30 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. Stephens comes in on four and the Red Tornadoes on 19.
Even though St. Stephens has not done well against the Raiders recently (they were 0-6 in their previous six matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. St. Stephens really took it to the Raiders for the full four quarters, racking up a 78-50 victory at home. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point St. Stephens had established a 23 point advantage.
St. Stephens found their leader in underclassman Noah VanBeurden, who scored 23 points along with two steals. VanBeurden has been hot recently, having posted 20 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jonah Long, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, Hickory can now show off 11 landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. They took their contest at home with ease, bagging a 88-58 victory over North Lincoln. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Hickory can attribute much of their success to John Holbrook, who scored 21 points. Izaiah Littlejohn was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
St. Stephens' victory bumped their record up to 11-8. As for Hickory, their win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 19-0.
St. Stephens came up short against the Red Tornadoes in their previous matchup back in January, falling 84-71. Can St. Stephens avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
