The West Florida Jaguars struggled with threes on Thursday (the Crestview Bulldogs had six more) and sadly the final score reflected it. West Florida took a 43-37 hit to the loss column at the hands of Crestview. West Florida lost against Crestview in their previous head to head back in December of 2022, too, but the margin this time around was much closer than the 64-33 score last time.
Despite the defeat, West Florida saw an underclassman step up: Amani (AB) Bartholomew dropped a double-double on 20 points and 14 rebounds. Bartholomew has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last six times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Shania Beeks, who scored five points along with nine rebounds and five assists.
Leading Crestview to victory were Madyson Boydstun and Natalie Toney. Boydstun scored 17 points, while Toney scored 17 points along with five rebounds and three steals. Boydstun hasn't dropped below two steals for four straight games. Another player making a difference was Gracie Boydstun, who scored two points along with 14 rebounds.
West Florida bumped their record down to 6-9 with that loss, which was their third straight on the road. As for Crestview, the victory (which was their fifth in a row) raised their record to 7-8.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. West Florida will take on Escambia at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Escambia comes in on a streak of failing to score more than 25 points in their last three games, a trend the team is of course eager to reverse. As for Crestview, they will look to defend their home court on Friday against Navarre at 6:30 p.m. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Florida (Navarre is ranked 229th, while Crestview is ranked 250th).
