Basketball Game Preview: Gulf Coast Sharks vs. Charlotte Fightin' Tarpons

The Gulf Coast Sharks will head out to face off against the Charlotte Fightin' Tarpons at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Last Monday, Gulf Coast humbled Lehigh with a 57-23 victory. Given the Sharks' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 121st, while the Lightning are ranked 400th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

It was another big night for Lilly Fultz, who posted 22 points. Another player making a difference was Jena Walsh, who earned 12 points.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Charlotte). They took their contest on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 70-35 victory over DeSoto County. The Fightin' Tarpons pushed the score to 53-32 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs had little chance of recovering from.

Gulf Coast is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 27.0 points per game. As for Charlotte, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 15-8.

Things could have been worse for Gulf Coast, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 53-39 loss to Charlotte in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Can Gulf Coast avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.