TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Patriots Finally Get Past Titans To Win District Championship

ADVERTISEMENT

By GREGG BECNEL, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 3, 2008

VALRICO - Freedom coach Jason Herring has preached to his team all season about execution.

Herring's words didn't fall on deaf ears, as the No. 2 Patriots executed a deliberate game plan to near perfection in their 41-35 win against top-seeded Tampa Bay Tech in Saturday's Class 5A-District 8 championship.

"Both teams knew the other's strengths and weaknesses," Herring said. "It just came down to execution. And we executed better."

Despite being swept by TBT in two regular-season meetings, Herring was confident about his team's chances going into the game.

"I felt the girls had to believe in themselves - and they did," Herring said. "I could see it in their eyes. They all had that hunger to win."

Freedom jumped to a 9-2 lead six minutes into the game and purposely slowed things down.

"We knew we had to shorten the game," said Patriots senior Kelley Maronic, who scored a game-high 17 points. "Tech does their damage off turnovers and in transition. We wanted to make them run their half-court offense because they're not as good doing that."

The Titans (25-2) dug out of their early hole thanks to a 19-6 run that put Tech up 21-15 late in the second quarter. But Freedom scored the half's final six points to tie it at intermission, then scored the first five in the third quarter to go up 26-21.

The Patriots (20-7) never trailed again as they continuously drained time off the clock with each possession.

"We knew Tech would make a run," Maronic said. "We were just able to make the last run."
TBT made it interesting in the final seconds. Dae Dae Mann (12 points) banked a 3-pointer to make it 36-35, but Freedom made its free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The Patriots will host Land O' Lakes in Thursday's regional quarterfinals, while TBT will play at Wesley Chapel.

Andrea Bridges led the Titans with 13 points.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT