The Palm Beach Gardens Gators waltzed into their game on Wednesday with four straight wins but they left with five. They took down Palm Beach Lakes 58-39. Given Palm Beach Gardens' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while Palm Beach Lakes is ranked 156th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kyana Poitier continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Azariah Marrero, who scored 14 points along with seven rebounds.
Palm Beach Lakes' defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ezria Pierre-louis, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 12 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Laniya Hall, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Palm Beach Lakes smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Palm Beach Gardens only pulled down 12 offensive rebounds.
Palm Beach Gardens pushed their record up to 13-2 with that victory, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.4 points per game. As for Palm Beach Lakes, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-7.
Palm Beach Gardens won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Dwyer at 7:00 p.m. on January 11th. Palm Beach Lakes will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against Deerfield Beach at 1:30 p.m. on January 13th.
