Melbourne has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Viera Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Melbourne has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
Last Friday, Melbourne came up short against the Falcons and fell 47-36. While losing is never fun, Melbourne can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 465th, while the Falcons are ranked 161st).
Despite the defeat, Melbourne saw an underclassman step up: Cecelia Nardone scored 16 points along with three steals. Nardone hasn't dropped below two steals for five straight games. Another player making a difference was Addyson Turba, who scored six points along with 12 rebounds and five steals.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the match if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Viera's strategy against the Mustangs on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Viera blew the Mustangs out of the water with a 84-28 final score. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point Viera had established a 53 point advantage.
Lauren Bell and Phantasia Lauriston were among the main playmakers for Viera as the former scored 23 points along with two steals and the latter scored 26 points along with seven rebounds and six steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Lauriston has scored all season. Yasmin Croom was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with four steals.
Melbourne dropped their record down to 8-16 with that defeat, which was their third straight at home. As for Viera, their victory ended a five-game drought at home and bumped them up to 10-13.
Melbourne was dealt a bruising 84-18 loss at the hands of the Hawks in their previous meeting back in January. The match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Melbourne was down 55-11.
