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Lions' Spirits High

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By BART O'CONNELL Tribune correspondent

Published: December 17, 2007

ST. LEO - A year ago, Saint Leo's women's basketball team traveled to Pensacola and thoroughly was humbled by West Florida, never leading at any point en route to a 70-50 defeat.

In the rematch on Saturday at the Bowman Center, there was a little revenge, and a lot of talk about building on such a dramatic turnaround.

This time, it was the Lions who never trailed, beating the Argonauts 62-48. One more win will give Saint Leo (5-2) as many victories as it had all of last season.

"We've been stressing the importance of getting this win," Coach Chanita Olds said. "West Florida has been a great program, were a great program when I played here at Saint Leo, and we went up there and really got beat - lost by 20 points. I kept stressing the importance that we have all the tools to be successful."

Finally, it seems as though the Lions' players are starting to trust in those tools and believe in themselves with the Sunshine State Conference schedule only three weeks away.

Saturday's statement win was highlighted by a game-high 15 points (in 20 minutes) from Amanda Holloway, her seventh double-figure scoring game in a row. Guard Roni Carithers added 12 points, and forward Dominique Daniels registered 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.

"I think we're a way better team than last year, and when we all work together, we're not an eighth place or whatever place they've got us in the preseason SSC poll," Carithers said. "We're about a first- or second-place team."
Carithers was moved to the point guard position for this game, as Olds has been battling injuries and inexperience at that position all season. Her experience as a senior was important for Saturday's game.

"That's why I put her at the one, knowing we're playing an experienced, well-coached team," Olds said. "So I had to put the person that I knew could handle the pressure up there."

Olds, who played 12 players on Saturday and wants to continue getting most of her players minutes, does not expect to keep playing Carithers in that spot. She likely will rotate her at both guard positions and take a closer look at former Mitchell standout Joanna Bussa, as well as fellow freshman Whitley Washington, in the next four games.

As for Holloway, she continued her hot streak offensively, which began when Olds was bringing her in off the bench early in the season. Now back in her customary role as a starter, Holloway is finding little resistance from her opponents in the low post.

"I would say that I'm an attacker, so that's what I do - attack the basket," she said. "And apparently, no one is stopping that right now, so I'm not going to stop doing it."

"The one thing I'm happy about is the young ladies are believing in themselves, believing in each other, trusting each other," Olds said. "And I feel like there's a lot of things that lie ahead for our program."

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com

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