The Gulf Buccaneers suffered their biggest defeat since November 28, 2023 on Friday. They were beaten by River Ridge 59-14. Gulf was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 35-10.
Ania Butler was Gulf's leading scorer, having posted six points.
Tazaria Bankston held things down on the boards with ten rebounds. She took the lead distributing the ball, coming up with two assists.
River Ridge was led to victory by Analis Hernandez and Zaree Nichols. Hernandez scored 12 points along with six rebounds and three steals, while Nichols scored 15 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Nichols continues to roll, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. Lauren Lee was another key contributor, scoring two points along with five rebounds and five steals.
Gulf bumped their record down to 7-11 with that defeat, which was their sixth straight on the road. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 29.7 points per game. As for River Ridge, the win (which was their seventh in a row) raised their record to 17-3.
Gulf will be playing in front of their home fans against Zephyrhills at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for River Ridge, River Ridge and Anclote will face off at 6:00 p.m. on January 22nd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Anclote will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 498th, while River Ridge is ranked 40th).
