Basketball Game Preview: Bartram Trail Bears vs. First Coast Buccaneers

The Bartram Trail Bears will take on the First Coast Buccaneers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Bartram Trail has three straight victories, First Coast has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Bartram Trail will bounce into Monday's matchup after beating Nease, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Bartram Trail snuck past Nease with a 57-53 win on Friday.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 87-13, which was the final score in First Coast's tilt against Camden County on Saturday. While losing is never fun, the Buccaneers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 522nd in Florida, while the Wildcats are ranked 53rd in Georgia).

First Coast's defeat dropped their record down to 4-14. As for Bartram Trail, their victory bumped their record up to 13-6.

Bartram Trail strolled past First Coast when the teams last played back in February of 2019 by a score of 48-33. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was First Coast's Heather Ellis, who went 7 of 13 on her way to 19 points along with six rebounds and five steals. Now that she won't be playing on Monday, will it be easier for Bartram Trail to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.