The Plant Panthers lost against the Bloomingdale Bulls back in November of 2022, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Wednesday. Plant took a 57-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of Bloomingdale. While losing is never fun, Plant can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 130th, while Bloomingdale is ranked 30th).
Plant's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Azzariah Styles, who scored 19 points, and Sanae Graham who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. Another player making a difference was Elise Rowland, who scored six points.
Noelle Mengel continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Bloomingdale, going 8 for 12 from beyond the arc en route to 36 points and 1 assist. Mengel is on a roll when it comes to points, as she's now scored 15 or more in the last ten games she's played. Izellah Kendrick was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with six rebounds.
Plant's loss dropped their record down to 8-6. As for Bloomingdale, the victory for they keeps them at an undefeated 17-0.
Plant's road trip will continue as they head out to face Boca Ciega at 4:30 p.m. on January 12th. That game will pit two of the most dominant players against one another: Maliyah Byrd and Styles. As for Bloomingdale, Bloomingdale and Sumner will face off at 6:30 p.m. on January 12th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Sumner is on a six-game streak of home wins, Bloomingdale a 14-game streak of away wins (dating back to last season)-- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.
