The Bartow Yellow Jackets waltzed into their match Friday with three straight wins but they left with four. They strolled past Kathleen with points to spare, taking the game 64-50. Given Bartow's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 193rd, while Kathleen is ranked 620th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Bartow's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jemirion Butler, who scored 12 points along with six rebounds. Those six rebounds set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Edward Wiggins, who scored seven points along with 15 rebounds.
Bartow is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Kathleen, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-5.
Bartow won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Jesuit at 2:00 p.m. on December 16th. Hopefully Jesuit focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up six on Tuesday. Kathleen will take on Southland Christian in a holiday battle at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday at. Southland Christian has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
