Basketball Game Preview: Newberry Panthers vs. Hawthorne Hornets

Newberry hasn't had much luck against Hawthorne recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Newberry Panthers will be playing at home against the Hawthorne Hornets at 6:00 p.m. Newberry is coming into the contest hot, having won their last five games.

Newberry will head into Tuesday's match hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big last Monday (they won by 23) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Buchholz, sneaking past 51-48. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 96th, while the Bobcats are ranked 271st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Hawthorne, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 62-45 victory over Orange Park on Monday.

Hawthorne's win was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.4 points per game. As for Newberry, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season.

Newberry came up short against Hawthorne in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, falling 48-38. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hawthorne's Jhalea Jackson, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 16 rebounds. Now that Newberry knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.