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Freshmen Come Up Big For Land O' Lakes

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 11, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - In order to accomplish something the Land O' Lakes' senior girls basketball players never had, it took a pair of freshmen to come up huge Thursday night.

Behind the play of freshmen Meghan Keough, who led all scorers with 17 points, and Kaitlynn Pacholke, who played much bigger than her 5-foot-2 frame, Land O' Lakes avenged its only loss this season with a 35-31 win against Wesley Chapel in the rematch.

This also was the first time Land O' Lakes (19-1) had beaten Wesley Chapel (16-4) in four years.

The two met in early December and Wesley Chapel came away with a decisive 63-46 win, but this time it was all about defense.

That played in favor of Land O' Lakes because the Gators still had one scorer in Keough who was putting in baskets in spite of the game's scrappy tempo. And the Gators played a stronger game off the boards.

"It was really exciting," Keough said. "We played them early in the season and we lost by a lot. So to come out here and beat them by four points is a really big deal for us."

Neither team was able to pull away for a significant lead. The biggest margin was the final score as Land O' Lakes sank six of seven free throws with under a minute to go in the game.
Wesley Chapel was without one of its best defensive players, Caitlin DeBoer. She suffered a meniscus bruise in the Wildcats' game on Monday and Coach Warren Jones said he likely won't bring her back until they play district opponent Ridgewood on Tuesday.

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