After flying high against Lakeland last Tuesday, Lake Wales came back down to earth. The Lake Wales Highlanders were dealt a 75-34 defeat at the hands of the Cardinal Mooney Cougars on Thursday. While losing is never fun, the Highlanders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 166th, while the Cougars are ranked 15th).
Despite the loss, Lake Wales still got an impressive performance from Vanessa Squire, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 13 boards. Squire has become a key player for Lake Wales: the team is 4-2 when she posts at least ten boards, but 2-3 otherwise.
Highlanders
| 12/06/23 vs Lake Region | 26 |
| 12/13/23 @ Osceola | 19 |
| 01/24/24 @ Auburndale | 17 |
| 01/16/24 @ Davenport | 17 |
| 12/12/24 @ Cardinal Mooney | 14 |
Even though they lost, Lake Wales smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've posted since back in January.
It was another big night for Sy?Monique Simon, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 11 boards for Cardinal Mooney. That's the most rebounds Simon has posted since back in January. The team also got some help courtesy of Kali Barrett, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Lake Wales' loss dropped their record down to 6-5. As for Cardinal Mooney, they pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Lake Wales and McKeel Academy will compete for holiday cheer at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. As for Cardinal Mooney, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 74-73 defeat against Dr. Phillips on the 13th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
