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Wildcats Still Feel Like The Underdogs

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - The road to the region final is going through a familiar neighborhood tonight.
Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes face each other for an unprecedented fourth time this season, thanks to how the tournament brackets shook out this year and just like the other three meetings, this one promises to be an intense game from beginning to end.

"I'm expecting a lot of intensity," Wildcats senior guard Cree McIver said. "They always come out with a lot of intensity."

This time, however, there is more on the line than in any other game this year. Even in the Class 5A-District 7 final, both teams knew they were still alive in the playoffs no matter who won.

But in the Class 5A-Region 3 semifinals, only one gets to move on to play the winner of Winter Haven vs. Lake Gibson.
Wesley Chapel won two of the three meetings this year. The first was a decisive 63-46 win on Dec. 4. Land O' Lakes won the second meeting 35-31 on Jan. 10 giving the Wildcats their third loss in a row.
Wesley Chapel hasn't lost a game since and beat Land O' Lakes 47-39 in the 5A-7 final on Feb. 2.

Still, the Wildcats believe they have something to prove.

"I feel like everyone still thinks we're the underdogs," Wesley Chapel senior forward Janelle Mills said. "Even though we've had a good season and everything, I still feel like Land O' Lakes doesn't look at us as the better team. I don't know. I feel like they think we're under them in a way so we'll see today."

The Wildcats don't have one or two star players, which could be a reason why they haven't commanded the respect they feel they deserve.

The team's leading scorer, senior guard Ashley Carey, averages 10.5 points a game, but the Wildcats have been just as effective, if not more so, than teams with players who average close to 20 points a game.
Caitlin Deboer has 9 points per game, McIver has 8.2, Jeani Ducos has 7.9, Desiree Vizcaino has 7.8 and Mills has 5.7.

Together, they have been harder to stop because preventing one of them from scoring won't do much to their final total.

Defense has been a big key for Wesley Chapel this season, especially in the Wildcats' games against Land O' Lakes.

Mills has matched up well with Land O' Lakes star Kayli Keough size-wise. After scoring 18 points in the first game, Keough was held to eight and seven points in the next two meetings.

Keough is 6-foot-2 and so is Mills.

"We know the way that they play, obviously," Mills said. "But you're expecting more because you're expecting them to come with something different."

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