The Marco Island Academy Rays were the 41-33 winner over the Cypress Lake Panthers when they last played one another back in January, but their luck changed this time around. Marco Island Academy's tough 44-23 loss to Cypress Lake on Friday might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Marco Island Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 512th, while Cypress Lake is ranked 173rd).
Marco Island Academy's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Amelia Sanchez, who scored nine points. The team also got some help courtesy of Lyndsay Lowdermilk, who scored eight points.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Cypress Lake to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kylie Anderson, who scored 19 points along with six steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Anderson has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Bri Madore, who scored 16 points along with three steals.
Marco Island Academy's defeat was their third straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 0-1. As for Cypress Lake, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 3-0.
Marco Island Academy will head out on the road to face off against Donahue Catholic at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Donahue Catholic focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 20 on Tuesday. As for Cypress Lake, they have the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome Southwest Florida Christian at 6:00 p.m. on December 4th. Southwest Florida Christian is still on the hunt for that elusive first 'W'.
