The Winter Haven Blue Devils will square off against the Sumner Stingrays at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a five-game winning streak alive.
Winter Haven is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They walked away with a 68-59 victory over Riverview Sarasota. 68 seems to be a good number for the Blue Devils as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Alyse Mercredi
| 02/20/26 vs Riverview Sarasota | 30 |
| 02/13/26 vs Durant | 16 |
| 02/06/26 vs Durant | 26 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Winter Haven to victory, but perhaps none more so than Alyse Mercredi, who went 13-for-27 to rack up 30 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. The matchup was Mercredi's third in a row with at least 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Victoria Hall, who shot 55% from the field on her way to 13 points in addition to eight boards and five blocks.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Sumner beat Haines City 53-48 on Friday.
Winter Haven better keep an eye on Mariah Farmer. She was instrumental in Sumner's win, going 7-for-15 en route to 30 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Farmer a new career-high in three-point shooting accuracy (67%). Jada Mathurin was another key player, putting up five points and 11 boards.
Sumner smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 13 consecutive games.
Sumner's victory bumped their record up to 20-7. As for Winter Haven, their win bumped their record up to 18-6.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Winter Haven has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Sumner struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Everything came up roses for Winter Haven against Sumner when the teams last played back in December of 2025, as the team secured a 75-39 victory. In that contest, the Blue Devils amassed a halftime lead of 49-21, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.
