Basketball Game Preview: Celebration Storm vs. St. Cloud Bulldogs

Celebration hasn't had much luck against St. Cloud recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Celebration Storm will take on the St. Cloud Bulldogs in a holiday battle at at 7:00 p.m. Celebration has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.

Celebration is headed into the matchup having just posted their biggest victory since January 3rd on Monday. They put the hurt on Ridgeview Global Studies Academy with a sharp 59-36 win.

Evelyn Juden and Emma Zukowski were among the main playmakers for Celebration as the former dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 boards. That makes it eight consecutive games in which Juden has scored at least a third of Celebration's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Sofia Ortiz, who posted two points.

Celebration smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 27 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive rebound total in four consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, St. Cloud earned a 33-23 victory over Eau Gallie on Friday. Given the Bulldogs' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 151st, while the Commodores are ranked 498th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

St. Cloud's win bumped their record up to 7-3. As for Celebration, their victory bumped their record up to 5-3.

Celebration lost to St. Cloud on the road by a decisive 54-40 margin when the teams last played back in November. Can Celebration avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.