Basketball Game Preview: Beachside Barracudas vs. St. Augustine Yellow Jackets

The Beachside Barracudas will head out to take on the St. Augustine Yellow Jackets at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Beachside will be strutting in after a win while St. Augustine will be coming in after a defeat.

St. Augustine is hoping to do what Sandalwood couldn't on Thursday: put an end to Beachside's winning streak, which now stands at three games. Beachside claimed a resounding 52-19 victory over Sandalwood. Given the Barracudas' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Saints are ranked 324th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Morgan Cremen and Anni Ament were among the main playmakers for Beachside as the former went 5 for 12 on her way to 15 points in addition to seven assists and five steals and the latter dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten boards. Cremen is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in the last five games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Natasha Materia, who posted eight points.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Beachside was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sandalwood only posted one assist.

Meanwhile, St. Augustine was beaten by Fletcher 67-38 on Monday. The Yellow Jackets have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Beachside has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.2 points per game. As for St. Augustine, their loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-6.

Beachside came up short against St. Augustine in their previous matchup back in January of 2023, falling 52-48. Can Beachside avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.