Basketball Game Preview: Tavares Bulldogs vs. Hope Academy Trojan Tigers

The Tavares Bulldogs will challenge the Hope Academy Trojan Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Tavares fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Mount Dora on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 45-39 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Hurricanes. The Bulldogs have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, Hope Academy was just a bucket shy of victory on Thursday and fell 39-38 to South Lake. The Trojan Tigers haven't had much luck with the Eagles recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.

Hope Academy's loss dropped their record down to 5-9. As for Tavares, their defeat was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 6-10.

Tavares and Hope Academy were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, but Tavares came up empty-handed after a 48-47 loss. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hope Academy's Domiya Foreman, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and 14 steals. Now that Tavares knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.