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Plant City Gets Its Rematch With Lakeland

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE Tribune correspondent

Published: February 15, 2008

TAMPA - The Class 6A-Region 2 quarterfinal game between Plant City (15-9) and Sickles (21-7) got off to a slow start as both had six offensive possessions before Sickles' Kelvin Daniels broke the drought and scored on a jumper. Plant City, on the other hand, took three more chances, falling behind by five to start the game before Steve Hardnett scored the Raiders' first basket. From there Plant City didn't look back, going on a 10-point run and maintaining its composure and putting down the Gryphons, 49-35.

The 10-point Raider run was answered with two shots by the Gryphons, making the score at the end of the first quarter 10-9 Plant City. However, that was the closest the game would be as the Raiders outscored Sickles 12-5 in the second half, aided by 3-pointers from senior Rod Henderson and junior Josh Thiebe.

Henderson led the Raiders in scoring with 14 points, while Hardnett had 12 points and also had nine rebounds.

"Steve Hardnett sometimes doesn't get the credit he deserves," said Raiders coach Dale Chambers of his senior forward. "He really contributes on the defensive end. He is very athletic and makes for a hard matchup for other teams."

Henderson said the biggest thing the Raiders worked on in practice in the week leading up to the region quarterfinals was their free throws. In the Raiders' district final loss to Lakeland, Plant City was 13-for-30 from the foul line. Thursday night against Sickles the Raiders showed better from the stripe going 12-for-20, including Henderson, who was 6-for-8 going 6-for-6 to close out the win.

"Our coach told us that we would need to pick up our game if we want to win," Henderson said. "We worked on free throws all week, so we didn't look like we did against Lakeland."

Sickles was led offensively by sophomore guard Jordan Davis, who had 12 points.

The Raiders advance to play Lakeland in the region semifinals on Tuesday. The Raiders fell to the Dreadnaughts 68-64 in the 6A-8 district final, something Hardnett said was already on his mind moments after Plant City's win against Sickles.

"I'm not happy at all yet," Hardnett said. "I really want to get this through the next game and move forward against Lakeland."

Correspondent Jarrett Guthrie can be reached at jguthrie@

pop.tampatrib.com.

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