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Wesley Chapel Can't Overcome Surge

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE Tribune correspondent

Published: February 18, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - After picking up a point on a free throw at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Class 5A-Region 2 final, Wesley Chapel's Cree McIver and Desiree Vizcaino each converted a 3-pointer. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Winter Haven had taken the game in hand as the Blue Devils ended Wesley Chapel's season with a 55-37 win.

The Wildcats end the season 24-5 after winning a third straight 5A-7 district championship.

In the regional final, Winter Haven's runs just proved too much for the Wildcats, as the Blue Devils had solid performances from two seniors - Tiffany Hayes had 19 points and Kiara Francisco added 15.
Wesley Chapel did what it had done all season spreading the ball around, with Vizcaino leading the Wildcats' scorers with 12 points and McIver putting up nine.

"We don't have that one player that is going to put up 30 points," Wildcats' coach Warren Jones said. "But we do have five players that can even it out and they have done an amazing job."
Wesley Chapel opened the game with a six-point early lead, but the Wildcats couldn't hold the Blue Devils down long as Winter Haven responded with a 10-point run.

"We expected them to come back," Jones said. "We knew we weren't going to keep them down the whole game."

The Blue Devils added an 11-point run in the second quarter as the defending state champions took a 12-point lead at the half.

"I think we needed to do a better job weathering their runs," Jones said. "And we needed to do a better job on the glass, because you can't give a team like this too many second chances and that is what we did."

In the third quarter, after both teams had only four fouls through the first half of the game, Wesley Chapel started giving the Blue Devils more chances from the foul line and Winter Haven took advantage going 15-20 from the line.

For the season, the Wildcats were led in scoring by Ashley Carey, who averaged 10.5 points per game with 284 points this season, followed closely by Caitlin Deboer, with a 9-point average and McIver, who averaged 8.2. Jeani Ducos led the team in blocks and rebounds, while Vizcaino had 106 assists this season.

Jarrett Guthrie can be reached at jguthrie@pop.tampatrib.com

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