Topsail is on a four-game streak of home wins, while East Bladen is on a six-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Topsail Pirates will host the East Bladen Eagles at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Topsail will head into Thursday's game on the come-up: they were handed a 30-point loss in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Thursday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against West Brunswick, sneaking past 42-40.
Ryan Lambert
| 01/09/25 vs West Brunswick | 3 |
| 01/07/25 @ Hoggard | 2 |
| 01/03/25 @ South Brunswick | 3 |
| 12/20/24 vs White Oak | 3 |
| 12/13/24 vs North Brunswick | 4 |
Ryan Lambert went supernova for Topsail, going 9 of 14 on her way to 22 points in addition to eight boards and three steals. Lambert has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last five times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Riley Trimble, who posted seven points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for East Bladen on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Heide Trask out of the water with a 64-23 final score. The Eagles have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten contests by 22 points or more this season.
East Bladen's win came from a few key players Topsail will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was NeNe Ward, who went 8 of 10 on her way to 18 points along with five rebounds and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Laila Smith, who went 7 of 8 on her way to 15 points in addition to seven boards and four steals.
East Bladen was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Heide Trask only posted three assists.
Topsail has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. As for East Bladen, their victory bumped their record up to 12-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Topsail has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 32.6 boards per game. However, it's not like East Bladen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Everything went Topsail's way against East Bladen in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, as Topsail made off with a 54-30 win. Will Topsail repeat their success, or does East Bladen have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
