Bayside and Melbourne are an even 5-5 against one another since November of 2016, but not for long. The Bayside Bears will host the Melbourne Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Bayside's tournament run continued when they took on St. Stephen's Episcopal two weeks ago. Everything went Bayside's way against St. Stephen's Episcopal as Bayside made off with a 52-26 victory. The Bears have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven contests by 23 points or more this season.
Bayside's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Christina Buigues, who went 8 of 14 on her way to 23 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Angelina Spence, who posted six points along with eight rebounds and six assists.
Bayside was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Stephen's Episcopal only posted five assists.
Meanwhile, Melbourne made easy work of Satellite on Tuesday and carried off a 54-34 victory. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Bulldogs have posted against the Scorpions since December 3, 2019.
Melbourne's win came from a few key players Bayside will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jocelyn Paz, who had 13 points. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in assists (four). Brianna Matthews was another key player, almost dropping a double-double on ten points and nine boards.
Melbourne is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a massive bump to their 7-9 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.8 points per game. As for Bayside, their victory bumped their record up to 11-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Bayside has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 31.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Melbourne struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Bayside strolled past Melbourne when the teams last played back in December of 2024 by a score of 51-34. Will Bayside repeat their success, or does Melbourne have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
