Basketball Recap: Sickles Comes Up Short

Sickles fought the good fight in their overtime match against North Tampa Christian Academy on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 78-77 to the North Tampa Christian Academy Titans. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (68), the Gryphons still had to take the loss.

Kelsey Sharpe

Steals

01/18/25 @ North Tampa Christian Academy	3
01/17/25 @ Durant	11
01/15/25 vs Spoto	15
01/14/25 @ Leto	14
01/10/25 @ Robinson	7

Sickles' loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Kelsey Sharpe, who posted 37 points along with eight boards and six assists, and Jadyn Watts, who dropped a double-double on 31 points and ten rebounds. Sharpe is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 31 games she's played dating back to last season. Ryley Beringer also deserves some recognition as she posted her first blocks of the season.

Even though they lost, Sickles smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 20 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in six consecutive games.

North Tampa Christian Academy got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Cali Midyett out in front who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 12 rebounds. Midyett has become a key player for North Tampa Christian Academy: the team is 4-2 when she posts at least eight boards, but 5-6 otherwise. Jelissa Anderson was another key player, going 8 of 18 en route to 19 points and six steals.

With the defeat, Sickles broke their six-game winning streak and moved their record to 13-6. As for North Tampa Christian Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-8 record this season.

Sickles wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next match, a 67-65 loss against Booker on the 20th. As for North Tampa Christian Academy, they will face off against The First Academy at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.