Basketball Game Preview: Haines City Hornets vs. Sebring Blue Streaks

Haines City has gone 6-0 against Sebring recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Haines City Hornets will be playing in front of their home fans against the Sebring Blue Streaks at 8:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.

Haines City will head into Tuesday's match hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 29) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged Ocoee out 62-59. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Hornets have posted since January 25, 2024.

Haines City can attribute much of their success to Zebrielle Canaday, who went 6 for 13 on her way to 18 points and four steals, and Delyana Morris, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 boards. Those 18 points gave Canaday a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Soleil DeJesus, who almost dropped a double-double on 11 points and nine rebounds.

Haines City smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in seven consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Sebring didn't have too much trouble with Okeechobee on Tuesday as they won 34-18. Given the Blue Streaks' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 228th, while the Brahmans are ranked 471st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Haines City pushed their record up to 11-5 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.7 points per game. As for Sebring, their win bumped their record up to 7-2.

Everything came up roses for Haines City against Sebring in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, as the team secured a 65-36 victory. Will Haines City repeat their success, or does Sebring have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.