Basketball Recap: Gainesville Takes Down Booker T. Washington in a Playoff Battle

It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Gainesville had no problem doing just that on Friday. They walked away with a 64-57 win over the Booker T. Washington Wildcats. This was payback for the Hurricanes, who suffered a 50-40 defeat the last time these two teams met.

Jamison Cardwell

Points

02/21/25 vs Booker T. Washington	22
02/18/25 vs Beachside	16
02/13/25 vs Lincoln	18

Gainesville was led to victory by Jamison Cardwell and Jayden Terry. Cardwell shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double with 22 points and ten rebounds, while Terry went 6-for-15 on her way to 19 points and seven boards. The match was Cardwell's third in a row with at least 16 points. Another player making a difference was Mayah Gordon, who posted ten points.

Despite the loss, Booker T. Washington saw an underclassman step up: freshman Jada Clardy shot 53% from the field en route to 20 points and six boards. Clardy continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Mikerria Bonner, who earned 13 points.

Gainesville has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten games. That's provided a massive bump to their 16-8 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.1 points over those games. The defeat snapped Booker T. Washington's winning streak at 12 games and leaves them with a 20-6 record.

Gainesville will have some time to savor their victory since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Northeast at 1:00 p.m. on March 5th. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Northeast sitting on 11 straight wins and Gainesville on seven. Booker T. Washington does not have any more games scheduled as of now.