The Bartow Yellow Jackets are taking a road trip to face off against the Auburndale Bloodhounds at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Bartow is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Kathleen: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Bartow blew Kathleen out of the water with a 91-52 final score. The Yellow Jackets pushed the score to 76-44 by the end of the third, a deficit the Red Devils had no chance of recovering from.
Messiah Borders
| 01/10/25 @ Kathleen | 18 |
| 12/06/24 @ Santa Fe Catholic | 17 |
| 01/11/24 @ Winter Haven | 16 |
| 12/13/24 vs Berkeley Prep | 15 |
| 12/27/24 @ Norcross | 15 |
Bartow found their leader in sophomore Messiah Borders, who went 7 for 16 on his way to 18 points in addition to six steals and five assists. The dominant performance gave Borders a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kenny Cotton, who made all 6 shots he took to post 13 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals.
Bartow smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 13 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Auburndale was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past McKeel Academy 62-28. Given the Bloodhounds' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 127th, while the Wildcats are ranked 348th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Auburndale has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.0 points per game. As for Bartow, their win bumped their record up to 11-6.
Everything came up roses for Bartow against Auburndale in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, as the team secured a 59-24 victory. In that contest, Bartow amassed a halftime lead of 32-11, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
