The Deltona Wolves will challenge the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Deltona sitting on four straight victories and New Smyrna Beach on eight.
Deltona is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Innovation as Deltona made off with a 72-47 win. The Wolves have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine matchups by 21 points or more this season.
Frantashia Williams continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, putting up 22 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ariella Andre, who posted 11 points.
Meanwhile, New Smyrna Beach hadn't done well against Spruce Creek recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. New Smyrna Beach managed a 56-51 victory over Spruce Creek. Given the Barracudas' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 16th, while the Hawks are ranked 81st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Deltona better focus on containing Olivia Olson and Iniya Reddicks as the pair were huge in New Smyrna Beach's win. Olson went 7 of 14 on her way to 22 points along with six rebounds and three steals, while Reddicks dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 boards. Those 11 boards gave Reddicks a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Riley France, who put up nine points and six rebounds.
New Smyrna Beach's win was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 20-5. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.6 points per game. As for Deltona, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season.
Deltona won a contest that couldn't have been any closer in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, slipping by New Smyrna Beach 49-48. The rematch might be a little tougher for Deltona since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
