The Mitchell Mustangs will look to defend their home court on Monday against the Palm Harbor University Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. Mitchell knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past four contests -- so hopefully Palm Harbor University likes a good challenge.
Mitchell has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 35 points or more this season. They took their contest on the road on Thursday with ease, bagging a 63-23 victory over Bell Creek Academy. With Mitchell ahead 39-11 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Mitchell's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Kaylana Little, who scored 17 points along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Priya Jacob, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 10 rebounds. That makes it two consecutive games in which Jacob has scored at least 25% of Mitchell's points. Another player making a difference was Tahlia Vazquez, who scored 10 points along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
Meanwhile, Palm Harbor University came up short against Clearwater Central Catholic on Friday and fell 49-39. While losing is never fun, Palm Harbor University can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 295th, while Clearwater Central Catholic is ranked 69th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Devyn Lavelle, who scored 12 points along with 6 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Brenna Walters, who scored 10 points.
Mitchell pushed their record up to 4-1 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 49.67 points. As for Palm Harbor University, they have not been sharp recently, as they've lost three of their last four matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-3 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Monday's matchup: Mitchell have been dynamite from deep this season, having only made 36% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Palm Harbor University, though, as they've only drained 28.5% of theirs this season. Given Mitchell's sizeable advantage in that area, Palm Harbor University will need to find a way to close that gap. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
Everything went Mitchell's way against Palm Harbor University in their previous matchup back in January as Mitchell made off with a 62-36 victory. Will Mitchell repeat their success, or does Palm Harbor University have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
