Basketball Game Preview: Clearwater Central Catholic Marauders vs. Palm Harbor University Hurricanes

The Clearwater Central Catholic Marauders will square off against the Palm Harbor University Hurricanes at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

On Wednesday, Clearwater Central Catholic blew past Pinellas Park, posting a 58-23 victory. Given the Marauders' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 137th, while the Patriots are ranked 583rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Palm Harbor University's strategy against Seminole on Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Palm Harbor University blew Seminole out of the water with a 73-38 final score. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Hurricanes had established a 34 point advantage.

Clearwater Central Catholic pushed their record up to 15-4 with the win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.9 points per game. As for Palm Harbor University, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season.

Clearwater Central Catholic ended up a good deal behind Palm Harbor University in their previous matchup back in November of 2024, losing 51-37. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Palm Harbor University's Leah Barker, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 17 rebounds. Now that Clearwater Central Catholic knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.