Basketball Game Preview: Lake City Panthers vs. Marion Swamp Foxes

Lake City is 1-6 against Marion since December of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Lake City Panthers will challenge the Marion Swamp Foxes at 6:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Lake City sitting on seven straight victories and Marion on five.

On Friday, Lake City didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Atlantic Collegiate Academy, but they still walked away with a 45-39 win.

Lake City found their leader in sophomore Hannah Riles, who posted 20 points along with six boards and five steals. Riles has been hot, having posted three or more steals the last eight times she's played. Another player making a difference was Jada Robinson, who earned seven points in addition to five rebounds and five steals.

Meanwhile, Marion's game on Tuesday was all tied up 22-22 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They snuck past Atlantic Collegiate Academy with a 44-40 victory.

Lake City better keep an eye on Jaeda Davis. She was instrumental in Marion's win, putting up 28 points. That makes it eight consecutive games in which Davis has scored at least a third of Marion's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Maliyah Williams, who had ten points.

Lake City has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.2 points per game. As for Marion, their win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-6.

Lake City barely slipped by Marion when the teams last played back in December of 2022, winning 51-50. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lake City since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.