Basketball Recap: Venice Takes a Loss

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Venice can now relate to. They had to suffer through a 73-31 loss at the hands of the Winter Haven Blue Devils. The Indians lost against the Blue Devils in their previous head to head back in February of 2024, too, but the margin this time around was even wider than the 60-46 score last time.

Addison Ivery

Steals

02/21/25 vs Winter Haven	4
02/18/25 vs Haines City	3
02/13/25 vs Palm Harbor University	8
02/08/25 vs Riverview Sarasota	3
02/06/25 vs North Port	6
+ 15 more games

Venice's loss on Friday came despite strong showings from Zoe O'Leary and Addison Ivery. O'Leary posted five points in addition to 11 boards and three blocks, while Ivery earned nine points and four steals. Ivery has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last 20 times she's played.

Winter Haven's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Quin'Nya Gray De Sanders, who went 8-for-14 on her way to 17 points and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Serenity Hardy, who had 19 points and three steals.

Venice's loss dropped their record down to 19-6. As for Winter Haven, the win was the 17th in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 25-2.

Venice does not have any more games scheduled as of now. Winter Haven will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against Ocoee at 1:00 p.m. on March 7th. One thing working in Winter Haven's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last 11 games.