Basketball Game Preview: Faith Baptist Christian Academy Crusaders vs. Savannah Athletic Association Jaguars

The Faith Baptist Christian Academy Crusaders and the Savannah Athletic Association Jaguars will compete for holiday cheer at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Faith Baptist Christian Academy saw some tournament action on Saturday. They took a 56-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of Coastal HomeSchool. The Crusaders haven't had much luck with the Hurricanes recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.

Despite the loss, Faith Baptist Christian Academy saw an underclassman step up: freshman Sophie Sellars posted 17 points and five steals. The dominant performance gave Sellars a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Alaura Hutton, who had seven points in addition to eight boards and six steals.

Meanwhile, Savannah Athletic Association came tearing into Thursday's contest with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They breezed by the Eagles to the tune of 68-29. The Jaguars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six games by 22 points or more this season.

Savannah Athletic Association's win came from a few key players Faith Baptist Christian Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Chloe McNew, who dropped a double-double on 34 points and 16 rebounds. That makes it six consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Savannah Athletic Association's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalie Santos, who dropped a triple-double on 18 points, 14 assists, and 12 steals.

Savannah Athletic Association smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in four consecutive matches.

Savannah Athletic Association has been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.1 points per game. As for Faith Baptist Christian Academy, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-5.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Faith Baptist Christian Academy has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 38.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Savannah Athletic Association struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.6 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.