The Florence Gophers were the 41-40 winner over the Northwest Christian Crusaders when they last played one another back in January of 2018, but their luck changed this time around. Florence's rough 58-35 defeat to Northwest Christian on Wednesday might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Florence can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 204th, while Northwest Christian is ranked 86th).
Florence's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was E.c. Turk-francis, who scored 12 points along with four steals. Keylee Scarbrough was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
Katelyn Best was her usual excellent self, almost dropping a double-double on 21 points and nine rebounds for Northwest Christian. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Best has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Quinn Gray, who scored 15 points.
Florence has been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-14 record this season. As for Northwest Christian, their win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-7.
Florence will take on Veritas Prep at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. As for Northwest Christian, they and Chino Valley will face off at 5:30 p.m. on February 2nd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hopefully Northwest Christian focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 on Wednesday.
