Beachside has enjoyed the comforts of home their last four games, but now they'll head out on the road. The Beachside Barracudas and the Durant Cougars will round out the year against one another at 9:55 a.m. on Wednesday at. Beachside has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 319 points over their last five games.
Last Monday, Beachside didn't have too much trouble with Andrew Jackson at home as they won 62-44. Given Beachside's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 89th, while Andrew Jackson is ranked 347th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Beachside's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Madilyn (Madi) Ray, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 14 blocks. That's the first time this season that Ray scored 15 or more points. Morgan Cremen was another key contributor, scoring 17 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Durant entered their tilt with Newsome with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Durant simply couldn't be stopped last Friday as they easily beat Newsome 46-17 on the road. The result was nothing new for Durant, who have now won three matches by 29 points or more so far this season.
Durant's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Mikaiah Hallback led the charge by scoring 14 points along with seven rebounds and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Hailee Rawlins, who scored seven points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Beachside pushed their record up to 9-3 with that victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.4 points per game. As for Durant, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a massive bump to their 5-4 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's game: Beachside have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 7 threes per game. It's a different story for Durant, though, as they've been averaging only 2.7 threes per game. Given Beachside's sizeable advantage in that area, Durant will need to find a way to close that gap. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
