The Nease Panthers were the 64-58 winner over the Orange Park Raiders when they last played one another back in November of 2021, but their luck changed this time around. Nease fell 48-38 to Orange Park on Thursday. While losing is never fun, Nease can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 312th, while Orange Park is ranked 61st).
Several Panthers players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Sage Pytel, who scored seven points along with four steals. Shruthika Kondabrolu was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with five rebounds.
Piera Alexander continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Orange Park, dropping a double-double on 15 points and 12 rebounds. Those 12 rebounds set a new season-high mark for her. The team also got some help courtesy of Mychaela Parker, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Nease has fallen quite a ways from their 19-7-1 record last season and are now at 2-5. As for Orange Park, they pushed their record up to 8-1 with that win, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season.
Nease will be home for the holidays to greet Flagler Palm Coast at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The pair have had a bumpy ride up to this point with four consecutive losses for Flagler Palm Coast and three for Nease. As for Orange Park, they will head out on the road to face off against Bolles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Bolles is coming into the game hot, having won their last four games.
