Basketball Game Preview: Lakeland Dreadnaughts vs. Wesley Chapel Wildcats

The Lakeland Dreadnaughts will head out on the road to challenge the Wesley Chapel Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Lakeland knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six matches -- so hopefully Wesley Chapel likes a good challenge.

On Tuesday, Lakeland came up short against Discovery and fell 71-64. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Monday (63), the Dreadnaughts still had to take the loss.

Wesley Chapel has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They fell 64-51 to Mitchell on Tuesday. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Wildcats came into the contest with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 162nd, while the Mustangs are ranked 346th).

Lakeland's loss dropped their record down to 9-7. As for Wesley Chapel, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 13-6.

Lakeland and Wesley Chapel were neck-and-neck when the teams last played back in December of 2024, but Lakeland came up empty-handed after a 79-78 loss. Can Lakeland avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.