Basketball Game Preview: Sarasota Sailors vs. Riverview Sarasota Rams

Sarasota is 2-8 against Riverview Sarasota since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Sarasota Sailors will square off against the Riverview Sarasota Rams. Sarasota has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.

Having struggled with four losses in a row, Sarasota turned things around against Bradenton Christian last Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 60-44 victory over the Panthers.

Paisley Binswanger was her usual excellent self, shooting 5-for-8 from long range and almost dropping a double-double on 27 points and nine boards. That makes it five consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Sarasota's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalie Richard, who posted 12 points and three steals.

Sarasota was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, after soaring to 82 points the game before, Riverview Sarasota was a bit more limited in their game on Thursday. They were beaten by Cardinal Mooney 62-25. The defeat continues a trend for the Rams in their matchups with the Cougars: they've now lost three in a row.

Riverview Sarasota's loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 19-4. As for Sarasota, their win bumped their record up to 9-13.

Sarasota suffered a grim 61-41 defeat to Riverview Sarasota in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Riverview Sarasota's Taylor Davidson, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten rebounds. Now that Sarasota knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.