Lake Wales is 0-10 against Bartow since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Lake Wales Highlanders will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bartow Yellow Jackets at 7:30 p.m. Lake Wales has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 313 points over their last five games.
Lake Wales pushed their score all the way to 58 on Monday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell just short of Haines City by a score of 61-58. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss Lake Wales has suffered yet this season.
Loss or not, Lake Wales got some senior leadership from Jason Burgos and Jeremy Willingham. Burgos scored 12 points along with five rebounds and three steals, while Willingham. scored eight points along with five rebounds and three steals. Another player making a difference was Gabriel Legrand, who scored seven points along with three steals.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Bartow's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. They fell 65-52 to Victory Christian Academy. While losing is never fun, Bartow can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 123rd, while Victory Christian Academy is ranked eighth).
Lake Wales has not been sharp recently, as they've lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-12 record this season. As for Bartow, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-9.
Lake Wales took a serious blow against Bartow when the teams last played on January 5th, falling 66-35. The contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Lake Wales was down 35-15.
