Mallard Creek is on a 20-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while North Mecklenburg is on a eight-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Mallard Creek Mavericks will welcome the North Mecklenburg Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mallard Creek is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Hopewell: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Mallard Creek blew Hopewell out of the water with an 82-33 final score. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 43-17.
| 01/28/25 vs Hopewell | 5 |
| 01/03/25 @ North Mecklenburg | 2 |
| 12/28/24 vs Bullis | 3 |
Mallard Creek got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Elle Stone out in front who went 10 of 20 on her way to 20 points in addition to five assists and five steals. Stone has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. My?Asia Young was another key player, going 5 for 9 en route to 14 points along with six rebounds and five steals.
Stone wasn't the only one working in the assists department: Mallard Creek was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in February of 2024.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely North Mecklenburg's strategy against Harding University on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that North Mecklenburg blew Harding University out of the water with a 74-14 final score. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 11th, while the Rams are ranked 399th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
North Mecklenburg has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.3 points per game. As for Mallard Creek, their win bumped their record up to 17-2.
Mallard Creek skirted past North Mecklenburg 54-52 in their previous meeting on January 3rd. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was North Mecklenburg's Lenise Joseph, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 16 boards. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Mallard Creek still be able to contain Joseph? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
