Basketball Game Preview: Menendez Falcons vs. Palatka Panthers

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Previous Games

12/10/24 - Away	31-13 W
01/23/24 - Away	54-33 W
12/04/23 - Home	51-12 W
01/13/23 - Away	58-31 W
12/29/22 - Away	58-13 W
+ 5 more games

Menendez is 9-1 against Palatka since January of 2020 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Menendez Falcons will host the Palatka Panthers at 6:30 p.m. Menendez will be looking to extend their current four-game winning streak.

Menendez is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Matanzas: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Menendez blew Matanzas out of the water with a 61-27 final score. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 164th, while the Pirates are ranked 408th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Sophia Scibelli continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, putting up 27 points along with eight steals and seven boards. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Menendez's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jakayla Newsome, who posted 19 points and five steals.

Menendez was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Palatka, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They came out on top against Matanzas by a score of 42-33 on Thursday.

Palatka's win bumped their record up to 8-10. As for Menendez, they are also on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-7 record this season.

Menendez strolled past Palatka when the teams last played back in December of 2024 by a score of 31-13. Will Menendez repeat their success, or does Palatka have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.