Basketball Recap: Make It Eight in a Row for Bartow

Yellow Jackets

Previous Games

01/15/26 @ Winter Haven	79-59
01/13/26 vs Auburndale	59-54
01/09/26 @ Kathleen	80-43
01/07/26 vs Lakeland	63-49
12/31/25 @ The Villages Charter	72-70
+ 3 more games

Bartow extended their winning streak to eight on Thursday, bumping them up to 18-1. They put the hurt on the Winter Haven Blue Devils with a sharp 79-59 victory. The Yellow Jackets have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight contests by 20 points or more this season.

Ja'Kylen Crossley was his usual excellent self, going 8-for-12 to rack up 20 points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals. Syrus Sinfort also deserves some recognition as he posted his first block of the season.

Bartow smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in four consecutive games.

As for Winter Haven, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 9-8. While losing is never fun, they can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 219th, while Bartow is ranked 18th).

Despite the loss, Winter Haven still got an impressive performance from Gavin Hall, who shot 50% from the field en route to 21 points. Hall is also on a roll when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 40% in the last six games he's played. Another player making a difference was Norris Birdsong, who posted 15 points.

Bartow didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 56-49 loss against Providence School on the 16th. As for Winter Haven, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 66-58 defeat against Auburndale on the 22nd.