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Wildcats Girls Rested And Ready

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - The fact that Academy at the Lakes remains in the postseason is somewhat miraculous, considering what it took for it to get this far.

The Wildcats had a stated goal all season of making the district finals, but they didn't realize it was going to take overcoming a 20-point deficit in the district semifinals to get there.

"We were never in the lead until the final score," senior Ashley Sooklal said. "I remember being under the hoop with around eight seconds left, and no offense to Amber Hay, but I didn't think that shot was going to go in. I thought it was over. And then it went in and everybody was shocked. We were all like 'Oh my god.'"

In the district final against Lakeside Christian, Sooklal said the Wildcats started strong but faded. They have had several days to regroup before their Class 1A-Region 4 semifinal game against Sarasota Out-of-Door Academy today.
Academy at the Lakes has been bolstered since Ashley Fryar, one of the Wildcats' most complete players, returned right after the winter break. She had missed a month-and-a-half with a high ankle sprain and was on crutches for much of that time.

In her first game back, Fryar played without practicing beforehand.

"It was OK," Fryar said. "It was different. It was weird because I hadn't been jumping at all, so I couldn't get my shot down."

Fryar's conditioning and shooting have improved since then, and she said she feels fine.

With both Sooklal and Fryar in the lineup, the Wildcats have a more solid foundation than they had before the break. Sooklal is the team's only senior, so time also has helped the team.

"They're picking up a lot of this stuff a lot better," Academy at the Lakes coach Gary Tait said. "They're learning to play as a team."

In the district final, the Wildcats were able to identify a lot of what caused them to lose and made those things priorities in practice.

They lost one day of practice this week because a middle school game was being played at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Center where they practice.

The Academy at the Lakes gym has been completed, but the school is waiting for approval from the county to start using it.

"I think we're doing pretty good," Fryar said. "We need to work some more on the passes that we make and some of the plays we don't run correctly. I think we could have played our defense a little bit better, Lakeside got layups off of bad passes and they got a lot of fast breaks on us."

Because Out-of-Door upset state-ranked Sarasota Christian by a point in its district final, the Wildcats are getting the better scenario for regionals and are hoping to go in and pull an upset of their own.

"It's going to take a lot of focus and eating those carbs," Sooklal said. "We can't really do anything new, we just have to play."

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