Recap: St. Joseph Academy Flashes vs. Merritt Island Christian Cougars
The St. Joseph Academy Flashes had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.8 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Saturday. They managed a 47-43 win over Merritt Island Christian. For St. Joseph Academy, this counts as revenge for the 51-48 defeat Merritt Island Christian walked away with the last time they faced one another back in December of 2023.
Kelly Cramer was her usual excellent self, scoring 26 points along with six rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of St. Joseph Academy's points.
Several Cougars players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Gloria Moses, who scored ten points. Another player making a difference was Kaity Shea, who scored 12 points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, Merritt Island Christian were working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Joseph Academy only racked up five assists.
St. Joseph Academy is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season. As for Merritt Island Christian, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-6 record this season.
St. Joseph Academy will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Crescent City at 6:00 p.m. Crescent City's defense has only allowed 25 points per game this season, so St. Joseph Academy's offense will have their work cut out for them. Merritt Island Christian will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Calvary Chapel Academy at 5:30 p.m. on January 23rd. Calvary Chapel Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 510th, while Merritt Island Christian is ranked 200th).
