Basketball Game Preview: Starks Panthers vs. Gibsland-Coleman Bulldogs

The Starks Panthers will head out to square off against the Gibsland-Coleman Bulldogs at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Starks will be strutting in after a victory while Gibsland-Coleman will be coming in after a defeat.

Starks is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past South Cameron 75-24 last Thursday. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 matches by 24 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Gibsland-Coleman came up short against Summerfield last Thursday and fell 69-58. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game two weeks ago (57), the Bulldogs still had to take the loss.

Starks will have to contain Samora Sampson as she made an impact in Gibsland-Coleman's last game. She dropped a double-double with 26 points and ten rebounds. Sampson's evening made it 13 games in a row in which she has scored at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was DonShayla Rushing, who posted 14 points.

Even though they lost, Gibsland-Coleman smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in nine consecutive contests.

The win made it two in a row for Starks and bumps their season record up to 22-12. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.5 points over those games. As for Gibsland-Coleman, their loss was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 16-10.