Viera is 1-8 against Palm Bay since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Viera Hawks will be home for the holidays to greet the Palm Bay Pirates at 7:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Viera sitting on five straight victories and Palm Bay on three.
Last Thursday, Viera was able to grind out a solid win over Heritage, taking the game 37-28. Given Viera's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 114th, while Heritage is ranked 238th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Phantasia Lauriston was her usual excellent self, scoring 19 points. The match was her seventh in a row with at least ten points. Kylie Winslow was another key contributor, scoring three points along with four steals.
Even though Palm Bay has not done well against American Heritage recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Palm Bay sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 58-55 victory over American Heritage. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Palm Bay's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jaida Civil, who scored 23 points along with six rebounds and four steals, and Kiara Williams, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and ten rebounds. That's the first time this season that Williams scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Erynn Moffett, who scored seven points along with six rebounds.
Viera pushed their record up to 7-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.8 points per game. As for Palm Bay, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Viera have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 25.9 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Palm Bay, though, as they've been averaging only 27.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Viera might still be hurting after the 69-45 loss they got from Palm Bay in their previous meeting back in November of 2022. Thankfully for Viera, Emma Risch (who dropped a double-double on 32 points and 11 rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
