Basketball Game Preview: Bartow Yellow Jackets vs. George Jenkins Eagles

Bartow is 2-8 against George Jenkins since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Bartow Yellow Jackets just played yesterday, but they'll still head out to face the George Jenkins Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.

Bartow will head into Monday's matchup out to bounce back: they won a close one the last time they played, but unfortunately they suffered a serious change of fortune on Monday. They were beaten by Seffner Christian 62-27. While losing is never fun, the Yellow Jackets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 554th, while the Crusaders are ranked 198th).

Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, George Jenkins' good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They fell to Charlotte 58-52.

Despite the loss, George Jenkins saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Zakharia Rutledge went 9 of 18 en route to 24 points and four steals. With that strong performance, Rutledge is now averaging an impressive 15.2 points per game. Taylor Gibson was another key player, putting up 11 points and seven rebounds.

George Jenkins' defeat dropped their record down to 13-8. As for Bartow, their loss dropped their record down to 2-17.

Bartow was dealt a bruising 64-9 defeat at the hands of George Jenkins in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. Can Bartow avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.