Basketball Game Preview: Gibsland-Coleman Bulldogs vs. Starks Panthers

The Gibsland-Coleman Bulldogs will face off against the Starks Panthers at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Thursday, Gibsland-Coleman came up short against Summerfield and fell 69-58. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game two weeks ago (57), the Bulldogs still had to take the loss.

Despite the defeat, Gibsland-Coleman got top-tier performance from Samora Sampson, who dropped a double-double with 26 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 44.8% of Gibsland-Coleman's points, marking the eighth time in a row Sampson has posted more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was DonShayla Rushing, who scored 14 points.

Even though they lost, Gibsland-Coleman smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in nine consecutive games.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Starks). They blew past South Cameron 75-24 last Thursday. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 contests by 24 points or more this season.

Gibsland-Coleman's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 16-10. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 27 points. As for Starks, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 22-12 record this season.