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Gulf High Girls Basketball Squad Leading The Pack Early

By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: December 6, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Looking at this year's Gulf High girls basketball team, a certain hook line from a one-hit wonder released nearly 20 years ago by the rightfully obscure and forgotten band Timbuk 3 can't help but come to mind.

The present is promising for this group, things are going great and they only appear to be getting better. Is the random 1980's reference clicking in yet? Snatch up your shades and think a little harder.

The Lady Buccaneers are coming off a run to the postseason last year - something they have done three out of the last four - and are now sitting atop the Class 4A-District 8 standings at 5-0 as of Thursday. They are not only winning these games, they are rolling over foes. Gulf has outscored its opponents 346-138. That's a margin of victory of nearly 42 points.

What makes this season and those to come stand out merely requires a quick glance at the Bucs roster. Only one senior - Brittany Bronson - is on a list comprised of standout sophomores and juniors already primed to go deeper than any other in school history.

Although it may be tempting for those who will coming back to daydream about 2010's potential, the team knows there is a full season currently lying ahead.

"This is the way I look at it," said Mike Quarto, in his sixth year as Lady Bucs coach. "Nobody cares what you did last year and nobody cares what you're going to do the following year. You live in the present."

Nicole Adams, sophomore captain and point guard, and junior guard Martisha Jones each referenced the program's possibilities during a recent practice, but also made clear there are definite goals set for this present team.

"We at least want to make it to the playoffs," Jones said. "We're heading for states. That's what we really want."

Adams and Kianna Mills, averaging more than 20 points per game, are leading the charge offensively for such a run.

"We're kind of like fire and ice," Adams said while referring to Mills and the nicknames spawned by Adams' father. "I'm ice because I'm more of a smooth, icy type of player and Kianna's fire because she's always jamming into people and getting everyone fired up."

Mills, along with fellow post players Sami Seybold and Colleen McAuliffe, are offering Quarto added options down low that were not nearly as prevalent during last season's backcourt-dominated attack. The trio accounts for nearly 18 rebounds a night.

Jones' stepped-up presence on the perimeter has also freed up more open looks for both herself and Adams and further complicates how opposing defenses try to contain the Bucs.

An underlying key behind Gulf's early success is the work put in as a whole over the summer and fall. The team attended summer camps at the University of South Florida and University of Tampa and then participated in the West Pasco-based Florida Fastbreak program.

"We definitely got a lot of games in," Seybold, a junior, said. "Especially since we had a couple of new people, it helped us learn how we work together and now we just have to put all the plays in."

The extensive offseason toils has helped foster a growing sense of unity on and off the court as well.

"Our big slogan this year is 'Together,' " Quarto said. "We always say 'Together' when we break our huddles. We put it on the back of some of our warm-up stuff and that's what we are - together."

"I think it makes a big difference because a lot of times if you don't get along off the court, you don't gel on it," Seybold said. "We weren't as close last year and every team tends to end up having its cliques, but we haven't done that."

Standing in Gulf's way this season appears to be perennial contender Nature Coast Tech (6-2) and newbie Wiregrass Ranch (4-1). The Bucs will travel to each in a seven day span, beginning with Friday's trip to Wiregrass. Online coverage and photos from last night's game can be found at www.suncoastnews.com.>

Both will act as solid a barometer for this year's overall prospects come February.

As of right now, though, it can be understandably difficult not to gaze ahead to a future that is just looking oh so bright. But it's one that will be illuminated further yet if this Bucs team accomplishes things it seems capable of right now.

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