Hopewell and Hough are both 6-1 against league opponents and one game ahead of Mallard Creek as teams begin the second trip through the I-Meck schedule.
"If you had told me in November that 'you'd be 6-1 at the halfway point and tied for first,' I'd take it," says Hopewell coach Gary Richmond, whose team won the regular season title last year. "But I'm kinda greedy and definitely spoiled so I'm still thinking about the one that got away."
Richmond's Titans are coming off a 52-44 win at rival North Meck last week and will host West Charlotte on Friday night. The Titans have lost only to Mallard Creek in conference play, falling 61-52 on Jan. 6. But the Titans won the first meeting with Hough, 44-36 at home on Dec. 13. The rematch is set for Tuesday at Hough.
Titan Shareé Boyd scored a game-high 19 points in the win over North Meck and is averaging 15.6 points per game in her senior season. Bryanna Curry is chipping in with 12.3 points per game, but Richmond has said the Titans are looking for a consistent third offensive weapon. He says Alicia Francis, who like Curry had 10 points against North, is showing signs of emerging into that role.
But the Titans are still adjusting to losing Quatavia Lynch, regarded as the team's best perimeter defender, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) over the holidays.
Richmond says the key to competing for the league title down the stretch is staying healthy.
"I'm hoping we can make it to the finish line," he says.
Hough, which like Hopewell is 10-6 overall, has won four straight games, including last Friday's 44-42 victory over Mallard Creek. Hough trailed the Mavericks 21-14 at halftime, but pulled ahead with a 20-4 third-quarter advantage. Brandi Arey and Julia Brown each scored 10 to lead the Huskies, who play at Vance Friday.
After facing Vance, Hough will have a shot to avenge its lone league loss, the eight-point defeat to Hopewell a month ago. The Huskies led for much of that contest before Hopewell scored the game's final 15 points in just more than three minutes — more than it had in the previous 13 minutes of the second half — to win.
Vikings still in the mix
The 52-44 loss to Hopewell last Friday ended a three-game I-Meck win streak by the North Meck Vikings, who are 3-4 in the I-Meck and fifth among the league's eight teams.
The Vikings, who host Lake Norman Friday, started the I-Meck season with three losses, by a combined 13 points, but have shown they can play with anyone. North was the first league team to beat Mallard Creek, doing so by a 57-51 score on Jan. 3.
So as the second half of the league season begins, Vikings coach Jennifer Baker is encouraged by the way her team can play.
"The wins we got were good quality, solid wins that should give our girls confidence that they can play with anybody in the conference," says Baker.
But while having shown their ability to always play hard, the Vikings (9-7 overall) have struggled to score at times. Against Hopewell, North hit just four of its first 40 shots in the game's first 26 minutes, only to hit five straight shots in the fourth quarter to cut the Titans' lead to four.
