After six games on the road, University is heading back home. The University Cougars and the Winter Park Wildcats will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 16th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. University will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 351st, while Winter Park is ranked 134th).
While University couldn't quite beat Cypress Creek on Thursday, the two-point margin was a huge improvement compared to the 36-point defeat they were dealt on Wednesday. University fell just short of Cypress Creek by a score of 42-40. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat University has suffered yet this season.
Jacqueline Leap put forth a good effort for the losing side as she dropped a double-double on 20 points and 20 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points she has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Laura Martinez, who scored seven points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Winter Park had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They claimed a resounding 55-24 win over Evans at home. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory Winter Park has posted since December 14, 2023.
University has been struggling recently, as they've lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-9 record this season. As for Winter Park, their win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-3.
University took a serious blow against Winter Park in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, falling 53-18. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Winter Park's Maliyah Lockhart, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds and five steals. Now that University knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
