Preseason Action at St. Pete HS: Tampa Sickles vs. St. Petersburg

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Brandon Fisher November 13, 2019 @ 11:16 AM

Tampa Sickles and St. Pete played in an exciting game after the TBT/Clearwater game on Tuesday night in St. Pete. It was a really tight game throughout, and made for a great watch as there were quite a few players I hadn't seen before. Sickles led by 2 points after one (12-10), and it was tied at half (21-21) until St. Pete took over in the third quarter by outscoring Sickles by seven (35-28), but Sickles finished strong to pull out the 48-47 win.   Sickles lost their two leading scorers on a 6-win team, but they added two freshman this year who look to be difference makers. Zou Raine is a nice lefty who had a great stroke and played well around the rim too. Lexi Pizarro had a pretty shot and will be a tough player to defend or score against on the other end. The Gryphons also have some upperclassmen who impressed with Sr Haley Monile shooting the ball from deep and Jr Rasha Khan had some easy buckets inside. Sickles will go through some growing pains, but they have some young talent to build off of as the season progresses.   The St. Petersburg Green Devils are led by senior Denise Hall-Papaleo who scored in double digits after a slow start to the game. She was a force last year, and shook some rust off in the early going tonight. We got to see glances at Denise showing some leadership by keeping her team calm and together when it got intense. St. Pete also added a quick, talented freshman in Ava Stoller who scored over 20 points by hitting a ton of free throws and shifty buckets around the rim with a nice floater. Junior Bree Wilson rebounded well inside for St. Pete too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them improve on their .500 record last season if they play hard like they did last night.