The Santa Fe Catholic Hawks had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 20.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They enjoyed a cozy 59-41 victory over Kathleen. Given Santa Fe Catholic's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 25th, while Kathleen is ranked 619th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Santa Fe Catholic was led to victory by Toby Lane and Tate Darner. Lane scored 13 points along with five steals, while Darner dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 rebounds. That's the first time this season that Darner pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Antonio Wright, who scored ten points.
Despite the defeat, Kathleen had strong showings from Jerome Groves, who scored 24 points, and Jeremy Nixon, who scored 15 points. That was a full 36.6% of Kathleen's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Santa Fe Catholic pushed their record up to 10-2 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Kathleen, they are on a seven-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 1-10.
Santa Fe Catholic will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against Melbourne at 11:30 a.m. on January 6th. Kathleen won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Auburndale at 8:00 p.m. on January 5th. Auburndale is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak.
