Mulberry is 0-3 against Bartow since November of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Mulberry Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bartow Yellow Jackets at 6:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Mulberry fought the good fight in their overtime game against George Jenkins on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 65-57 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Eagles. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Mulberry in their matchups with George Jenkins: they've now lost six in a row.
Despite the defeat, Mulberry got a solid performance out of Lorianys Castanon Cruz, who dropped a double-double on 44 points and 12 steals. That was a full 77.2% of Mulberry's points, marking the eighth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Alana Standifer was another key contributor, scoring four points along with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Even though they lost, Mulberry smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Bartow suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Thursday. They took a serious blow against Kathleen, falling 59-14. While losing is never fun, Bartow can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 522nd, while Kathleen is ranked 93rd).
Mulberry's defeat dropped their record down to 6-2. As for Bartow, their loss was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 3-12.
Mulberry might still be hurting after the 41-21 defeat they got from Bartow in their previous meeting back in December of 2021. Can Mulberry avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
