The Vanguard Knights will challenge the Hawthorne Hornets at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Hawthorne will be up against a hot Vanguard squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Vanguard blew past South Sumter, posting a 40-4 win. Given the Knights' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 249th, while the Raiders are ranked 548th), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/29/25 vs South Sumter | 4 |
| 01/23/25 vs Santa Fe | 5 |
| 01/15/25 vs Lake Weir | 4 |
Sanaria Gunsby was her usual excellent self, almost dropping a double-double on 17 points and nine boards. She is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed four or more in the last three games she's played. Kenaria Dowdy was another key player, putting up six points and 12 rebounds.
Vanguard smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 24 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've posted since back in January of 2024.
Meanwhile, Hawthorne entered their tilt with Chiefland on Thursday with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Everything went their way against the Indians as they made off with a 52-29 victory.
Hawthorne pushed their record up to 10-3 with the win, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.5 points per game. As for Vanguard, their victory bumped their record up to 9-7.
Vanguard was taken down by Hawthorne 61-27 in their previous matchup back in January of 2021. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Vanguard was down 37-8.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
