Preview: Seminole Warhawks vs. Keswick Christian Crusaders
Two dominant players in Laney Pearson and Ava Graham are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Seminole Warhawks will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Keswick Christian Crusaders at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday. Seminole will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 434th, while Keswick Christian is ranked 82nd).
Last Thursday, Seminole was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 40-39 to Braden River. Seminole has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the loss, Seminole had strong showings from Pearson, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds and four steals, and Devon Swartz, who scored eight points along with four blocks. Pearson scored a full 25.6% of Seminole's points, the 12th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaitlyn Hallock, who scored six points.
Meanwhile, even though Clearwater scored an imposing 55 points last Friday, Keswick Christian still came out on top. Keswick Christian walked away with a 64-55 win over Clearwater. The win made it back-to-back wins for Keswick Christian.
It was another big night for Graham, who scored 20 points along with eight rebounds and six assists. The contest was her eighth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Robyn Cantwell, who scored 19 points along with four steals.
Seminole's defeat dropped their record down to 4-8. As for Keswick Christian, they pushed their record up to 6-2 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Seminole have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 24.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Keswick Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 36.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Seminole might still be hurting after the 59-39 loss they got from Keswick Christian in their previous meeting back in December of 2022. Can Seminole avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
