Branford hasn't had much luck against Lafayette recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Branford Buccaneers will host the Lafayette Hornets at 6:00 p.m. Branford is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.9 points per game this season.
Branford will head into Tuesday's contest after some sweet revenge against Aucilla Christian: Branford made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Aucilla Christian, but still couldn't quite topple them. Branford breezed by Aucilla Christian to the tune of 71-32 on Tuesday. The Buccaneers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three games by 29 points or more this season.
Branford's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Brianna Barrs, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Cloey Criggall, who went 9 of 17 on her way to 22 points and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Lafayette didn't have quite enough to beat Santa Fe on Tuesday and fell 40-37. While the Hornets didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Raiders 10-6 in the first quarter.
Branford will have to keep a close watch on Kiley Beach and Havyn Richardson, a pair of players who had a big impact on Lafayette's prior game. Beach posted 18 points, while Richardson had seven points. Richardson has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last three times she's played.
Branford's win bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Lafayette, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Branford has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Lafayette struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31.2 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Branford might still be hurting after the 55-32 loss they got from Lafayette in their previous matchup on Saturday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lafayette's Tristan Campbell, who almost dropped a double-double on 19 points and nine rebounds. Now that Branford knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
