Preview: Lake City Panthers vs. Crestwood Knights
Lake City is on a three-game streak of home losses, Crestwood a three-game streak of away losses, but someone's luck is about to change. The Lake City Panthers will take on the Crestwood Knights at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Lake City has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games.
Last Friday, Lake City was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 55-50 to Darlington. Lake City has not had much luck with Darlington recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite the loss, Lake City had strong showings from Hannah Riles, who scored 17 points along with five assists, and Trayana Burgess, who scored 15 points. That's the first time this season that Burgess scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Na'Shira Starks, who scored five points.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Crestwood beat Lakewood 49-44 on Friday. The win was just what Crestwood needed coming off of a 86-24 loss in their prior contest.
Saniya Williams was her usual excellent self, scoring 28 points along with five rebounds and four steals. Javiah Martin was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Lake City has been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-9 record this season. As for Crestwood, they now have a winning record of 8-7.
Lake City suffered a grim 62-36 defeat to Crestwood when the teams last played on January 5th. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Williams, who scored 25 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. Now that Lake City knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
