The Auburndale Bloodhounds will face off against the Bartow Yellow Jackets at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
On Friday, Auburndale blew past McKeel Academy, posting a 62-28 win. 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.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Bartow's strategy against Kathleen on Friday. 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 matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 49-24.
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. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Borders has scored all season. 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 boards 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 rebounds in 13 consecutive contests.
Auburndale is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.0 points per game. As for Bartow, their victory bumped their record up to 11-6.
Auburndale took a serious blow against Bartow when the teams last played back in January of 2024, falling 59-24. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Auburndale was down 32-11.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
