The Booker Tornadoes will take on the Palm Bay Pirates at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Booker is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup last Friday. They really took it to DeSoto County for the full four quarters, racking up a 74-37 win. Given the Tornadoes' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 34th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 90th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Marayah Stuart
| 02/21/25 vs DeSoto County | 13 |
| 01/29/25 vs Canterbury | 8 |
| 01/16/25 @ DeSoto County | 7 |
| 12/30/24 vs Timber Creek | 7 |
| 02/08/25 vs Gibbs | 6 |
Marayah Stuart had an outrageously good game as she dropped a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The dominant performance gave her a new career-high in boards. Yvette Brown was another key player, dropping a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Booker was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as DeSoto County only eight assists.
Meanwhile, Palm Bay waltzed into their game last Friday with 12 straight wins... but they left with 13. They blew past the Hornets 63-27.
Booker better keep an eye on Jaida Civil. She was instrumental in Palm Bay's win, going 8-for-15 en route to 23 points in addition to seven assists and seven steals. Civil has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last 13 times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Trishay Collins, who posted nine points along with five boards and four steals.
Palm Bay pushed their record up to 23-7 with the victory, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.3 points on average over those games. As for Booker, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-7 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Booker has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 36.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Palm Bay struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.2 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Booker was taken down by Palm Bay 61-25 in their previous meeting back in November of 2021. Thankfully for Booker, Emma Risch (who shot 64% from the field to rack up 23 points in addition to five assists and three steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
