Basketball Game Preview: Pine Knights vs. Morningside Academy Eagles

Pine is 2-8 against Morningside Academy since November of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Knights will challenge the Eagles at 5:30 p.m. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

Pine is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against South Fork on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. The Knights were dealt a 69-29 loss at the hands of the Bulldogs. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 567th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 144th).

Pine's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Roxie Hesler, who posted 11 points, and Peyton Polachek, who had four points.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 74-29, which was the final score in Morningside Academy's tilt against John Carroll Catholic on Friday. The Eagles were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 50-16.

Morningside Academy's loss dropped their record down to 15-5. As for Pine, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-9.

Pine couldn't quite finish off Morningside Academy in their previous matchup back in January of 2025 and fell 34-31. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of the Eagles' Arianah Wallace, who dropped a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Now that the Knights know the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.