The St. Cloud Bulldogs's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They fell 63-53 to Palm Bay. While losing is never fun, St. Cloud can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 86th, while Palm Bay is ranked 33rd).
Several Bulldogs players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Emily Lockey, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds. Lockey has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played. Danigzy Mantilla was another key contributor, scoring 16 points along with six rebounds.
St. Cloud struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Jaida Civil was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 29 points and 16 rebounds for Palm Bay. Civil set a new season high mark in points with 29. The team also got some help courtesy of Kiara Williams, who scored 11 points along with nine rebounds.
St. Cloud's defeat dropped their record down to 4-3. As for Palm Bay, they now have a winning record of 4-3.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. St. Cloud will take on Master's Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. As for Palm Bay, they will be playing at home against Heritage at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Heritage focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 25 on Friday.
