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Plant Holds Off Jefferson's Rally

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By CHRIS ERRINGTON, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 3, 2008

TAMPA - This time there would be no comeback.

Although the stage was set again, unlike Friday, when Jefferson used a thrilling 21-5 game-ending run to stun No. 2 seed Blake and earn a berth in Saturday night's Class 5A-District 10 championship game, top-seeded Plant made sure a comfortable lead would remain. Just barely.

In the end, the Panthers concluded the district tournament the same way they began it - unbeaten in conference play, with a 50-39 victory.

The victory sends Plant (23-4) into a home regional quarterfinal game against Dunedin on Thursday at 7 p.m., while Jefferson (17-11) will travel to Clearwater that same evening.

"I think it was our half-court defense that was the difference," Plant coach Carrie Mahon said. "All the shots they took were contested."

After holding Hillsborough to just 18 second-half points a night earlier in the semifinals, Plant's suffocating pressure defense held the Dragons to 12-for-56 shooting and forced 14 turnovers. Even more important was Plant's overwhelming rebounding advantage. The bigger, stronger Panthers outrebounded the Dragons 39-17, including a whopping 19-6 edge on the offensive end. Only their inability to consistently convert the extra chances into points kept the game from getting out of hand.

"You can look at the game several ways," Mahon said. "From the rebounding edge we had, to all the missed shots we had. We definitely had chances to blow this one open."

Despite trailing by seven at halftime and by double-digits on four occasions, Jefferson nearly pulled off another dramatic comeback victory. The Dragons twice pulled within two, but each time a costly turnover of crucial Plant basket stunted Jefferson's run.

Thanks to seven missed free throws in the final 1:32, the Dragons remained in the game until, with 30 seconds remaining and trailing by five, they turned the ball over under Plant's basket.

"They couldn't put us away all night," Jefferson coach Tom Mosca said. "We were still in it with half a minute remaining, but when you shoot as badly as we did and you get outrebounded like we did, we were never able to get over the hump."

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