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Top Seed Sickles, No. 2 St. Petersburg Move Forward

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By SCOTT PURKS Tribune correspondent

Published: February 2, 2008

TAMPA - Everything went according to the seeding in Friday night's Class 6A-District 7 semifinals, with No. 1 Sickles winning 50-34 over Countryside and No. 2 St. Petersburg beating Mitchell 51-33.

The only real tension, in fact, came in the nightcap. Countryside (13-12) kept it close until the final period before the outside shooting of Gryphon Katie MacKenzie and the inside game of Shawnta Snakovsky took over.

Both coaches agreed that MacKenzie had the greatest impact, draining 3-pointers (four in all) whenever Countryside got within five points or so.

"She stuck the dagger in us," Countryside coach Andy Lieb said. "They kept swinging it around to her, and we didn't adjust, and then she'd hit one."

MacKenzie, a senior forward, led all scorers in both games with 18 points.

In the night's first semifinal, St. Petersburg had eight girls score, with Sharlease Hughes leading the way with 12.

The Green Devils defense, however, is what pleased Coach Ryan Halstead.

"We've been working all week on our defense," Halstead said. "One of the best stats to me is the fact we had only 12 turnovers and 13 steals. For us, that's fantastic. If we continue to play like this we should be in good shape."

During the regular season, Sickles (23-2) and St. Petersburg (19-5) split, both winning on the road.

"I'd say we match up pretty well, and I expect a very close game," Sickles coach Mark Key said. "Hopefully we can get into a flow like we did tonight."

Holsted again stressed the need for his team to protect the ball, play tough defense and get some strong play from his post players, including center Hughes and forwards Danielle Troupe and Jazmyne Green, who scored 12, 8 and 8, respectively, against Mitchell.

On Friday, Mitchell (16-10) may have been a little distracted considering Coach Stephanie Koslin had her second child Friday morning and assistant Jacob Tavo filled.

Countryside, meanwhile, left feeling a little upbeat that it had its first winning season in many years. The Cougars finished 13-12.

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