Pine Crest has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Mater Lakes Academy Bears at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Pine Crest stacked a fifth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Monday. They blew past West Boca Raton 53-22 at home. Given Pine Crest's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 118th, while the Bulls are ranked 383rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pine Crest's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Franky Garfi, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Isabella Sangha, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 13 rebounds. That makes it seven consecutive games in which Sangha has scored at least a third of Pine Crest's points. Another player making a difference was Alicia Marzouca, who scored three points along with eight steals and five rebounds.
Mater Lakes Academy proved they can win big on Tuesday (they won by 38) but on Wednesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 43-40 win over Lourdes Academy. The win made it back-to-back wins for Mater Lakes Academy.
Pine Crest has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season. As for Mater Lakes Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 12-10.
Pine Crest came up short against the Bears when the teams last played back in February of 2023, falling 57-52. Can Pine Crest avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
