The Sebastian River Sharks will be playing in front of their home fans against the Heritage Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Sebastian River sitting on four straight wins and the Panthers on three.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up eight more assists than your opponent, a fact Sebastian River proved on Wednesday. They enjoyed a cozy 49-33 win over Melbourne. Given Sebastian River's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 176th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 465th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Sebastian River to victory, but perhaps none more so than Isabella Bowen, who scored eight points along with four steals. Shyauna Shelly was another key contributor, scoring six points along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Heritage proved they can win big on Monday (they won by 37) but on Wednesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Okeechobee 51-48.
Kendra Jean was a one-man wrecking crew for Heritage as she scored 23 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Jean has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Trishay Collins, who scored nine points.
Sebastian River has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season. As for Heritage, their victory bumped their record up to 11-8.
Wednesday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Sebastian River have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 39.6% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Heritage struggles in that department as they've made 42.8% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Sebastian River suffered a grim 51-27 defeat to the Panthers when the teams last played back in December of 2020. Will Sebastian River have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.
