The Newberry Panthers won against the Santa Fe Raiders last Friday with 67 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Wednesday. Newberry blew past Santa Fe 67-36 on the road. Given Newberry's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 182nd, while Santa Fe is ranked 377th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Brandy Whitfield, who scored 21 points along with eight assists and eight steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of Newberry's points. Another player making a difference was Sarah Beaulieu, who scored 16 points along with seven assists and five steals.
Santa Fe's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Natalie Chohan, who scored 11 points along with three steals. The match was Chohan's third in a row with at least ten points. Haleigh Richburgh was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Santa Fe struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Newberry posted 22 assists.
The victory makes it two in a row for Newberry and bumps their season record up to 5-2. As for Santa Fe, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
Newberry won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Chiefland at 6:00 p.m. on December 14th. Chiefland is also coming in off of a big victory, so somebody is in for a big reversal of fortune. As for Santa Fe, they will head out on the road to face off against Mount Dora at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Mount Dora has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
