Basketball Recap: Bartow Sets Scoring Season-High Against Lake Gibson

Yellow Jackets

Team Score

01/23/25 vs Lake Gibson	48
12/06/24 @ Lake Gibson	42
01/09/25 @ Lakeland	43
12/18/24 vs Discovery	37
01/17/25 vs Lakeland Christian	31

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Bartow). They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 48-45 victory over the Lake Gibson Braves on Thursday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Yellow Jackets as it put an end to their four-game losing streak.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Bartow to victory, but perhaps none more so than Elayna Hamilton, who posted 12 points. Those 12 points gave Hamilton a new career-high. Ashlyn Whitaker was another key player, putting up ten points.

Several Braves players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Shania Benjamin, who put up 19 points. That was a full 42.2% of Lake Gibson's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Ariana Villegas, who had 13 points.

Bartow's victory ended an eight-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-16. As for Lake Gibson, they are on a nine-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 3-11.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Bartow will take on Seffner Christian at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Seffner Christian's defense has only allowed 29.8 points per game this season, so Bartow's offense will have their work cut out for them. As for Lake Gibson, they and Oasis Christian will face off at 6:30 p.m. on Friday without much rest having both just played.