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Girls Basketball Roundup: Panthers Win, Will Face Dragons

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A Tribune staff report

Published: February 7, 2009

TAMPA - Plant will get another shot at Jefferson in tonight's Class 5A-District 10 girls basketball championship, but the host Panthers will likely be without standout junior guard Michelle Taylor.

Taylor suffered a knee injury Wednesday and watched from the bench as her teammates rallied to defeat Hillsborough 40-35 in a semifinal game Friday.

"It'll be a game-time decision," Plant coach Carrie Mahon said of Taylor.

Junior Ann Lowry Brown led the Panthers (21-4) with a game-high 14 points.

Hillsborough played the majority of the game without leading scorer Shalisia Hall, who was being disciplined for an attitude problem, Terriers coach Yolanda Whitehead Driskell said.

Jefferson (24-1) reached the title game by easily downing Chamberlain 58-29. Freshman Shayla Wilson led three Dragons in double figures with 18 points. Laurie Beaty scored 14 and Jade Givens added 10.

Gregg Becnel

Hawks, Titans Edge Into Final

Yes, Armwood beat Newsome 40-29 and Tampa Bay Tech defeated Wharton 48-35 in Friday's Class 5A-District 8 semifinals, but no, neither game was as lopsided as the scores indicated.

In both games, in fact, the winners' leads were cut to six points with three minutes remaining.

After TBT (21-4) finally pulled away, Titans coach Heather Glazen said she also was encouraged because her team responded with a flurry in the final minutes after she got into a long, heated discussion with the referees on whether a Wharton player had fouled out or not. Glazen lost the debate because the official book had the player with only four fouls.

"Then I went over and told my players that I had done my part and now it was time to do theirs," Glazen said. "I think they liked the fact I was willing to fight for them. It seemed to light a fire under them."

Armwood (21-3), which had four players under the weather with flu, had seven players score, Chante Lumpkin leading the team with 12 points.

Scott Purks

St. Pete Pushed; Sickles Cruises

CLEARWATER - No. 4 seed Mitchell gave No. 1 seed St. Petersburg a major scare in the semifinals of the Class 6A-District 7 semifinals at Countryside High on Friday. The Mustangs pushed the Green Devils into overtime before Jazmyne Green locked the game up for St. Petersburg by going 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and adding a field goal for good measure for a 57-51 win.

The Green Devils, who already had size advantage, took further advantage when Hanna Bernard fouled out early in the fourth quarter with Mitchell leading 34-32.

With Mitchell trailing 43-41 with seconds left in the fourth, Katelynn O'Brien raced in for a layup, sending the game into overtime.

But with fouls mounting for Mitchell, St. Petersburg had little difficulty in overtime.

In the opening game, Sickles pulled away from host Countryside in the second half for a 51-41 win. Amber Henson led the Gryphons with 20 points.

"It's hard to beat a team three times," Henson said. "We have to cut down on the turnovers and we did do that in the second half."

Lee Diekemper

Clearwater, PHU Into Final

CLEARWATER - Clearwater dominated with a 57-10 win against Dunedin as girls basketball coach Tom Shaneyfelt makes another bid for his first Florida state championship. The Tornadoes were led by sophomore guard Emma Loucks, who scored 13 points.

Clearwater flashed the talent to win at the state level. They led 29-10 at the half, and had eight different players score.

"We came out pretty well," said Shaneyfelt.

Clearwater will face Palm Harbor in tonight's final, after the Hurricanes defeated Tarpon Springs 55-43.

Aaron Hanbury

Manor Leads Nature Coast

BROOKSVILLE - She brought plenty of offense, a handful of thunderous blocks and a lot of intensity. But most of all, Nature Coast do-everything senior Shereka Manor provided just enough leadership and composure to lead the host and third-seeded Sharks (20-6) to a hard-earned 40-34 victory in the Class 4A-District 8 semifinals against No. 2 seed Gulf (22-5).

Manor's 21 points, eight coming in the fourth quarter, were critical for the Sharks. Nature Coast will play Wiregrass Ranch (23-4) in tonight's final. Wiregrass Ranch was a 52-49 winner against Hernando (10-14) in the day's first game.

Manor started Nature Coast's fourth-quarter rally with a tough layup in the lane, which turned into a 3-point play after getting fouled. Then after a Gulf free throw, she made both ends of a one-and-one to give the Sharks the lead for good.

Wiregrass Ranch played a poor game by their top-seeded standards, but still survived a strong effort from Hernando, which led entering the fourth quarter.

Bart O'Connell

Wildcats Advance Past Bears

WESLEY CHAPEL - Wesley Chapel girls basketball coach Karim Nohra thought his Wildcats would have to play Brooksville Central sometime during the Class 5A-District 7 tournament.

But he thought it would be tonight in the final and not Friday in the semifinals. But an ineligible player forced the Bears to forfeit seven games, including four in the district, and sent their district record to 1-7 instead of 5-3. The result was Central being the No. 5 seed instead of No. 2.

The top-seeded Wildcats overcame some hot 3-point shooting by the Bears in the first half to earn a 68-54 win.Wesley Chapel (23-2) will host Land O' Lakes tonight in the championship game. The Gators, who lost a coin flip with Ridgewood for the No. 2 seed, beat the Rams 61-30.

Central (5-17) overcame a 10-point second-quarter deficit by connecting on five 3-pointers in the second quarter to get as close as three points in the quarter, but three consecutive baskets by Shantel Houston allowed the Wildcats to lead 39-32 at the half.

Earlier, sophomore Meghan Keough scored 23 points as the Gators (12-11) jumped out to a 21-7 first-quarter lead to end Ridgewood's season.

Rick Harmon

Cougars, Indians Eliminated

PLANT CITY - Durant and East Bay lost to two Sarasota teams as Hillsborough County schools were eliminated in the Class 6A-District 8 girls high school basketball semifinals.

Sarasota Riverview defeated Durant 52-35, holding the Cougars to 34 percent shooting from the floor and 23 percent from the free-throw line.

After trailing 15-4 after the first quarter, the Cougars roared back, outscoring Sarasota 18-5 to take a two-point halftime lead. In that quarter, Eryka Williams scored nine of her 12 points. It was not enough when the Rams went on a 32-13 tear in the second half.

Janae Lancaster scored 11 and Taylor Broadnax scored nine for Durant.

In the second game, Sarasota beat East Bay 55-43 in a game where the Indians fouled Sarasota 26 times, turned the ball over 16 times and had six shots blocked.

Shytina Harley led East Bay scorers with 17 points, including 11 points in the fourth quarter when the Indians scored 22 points and made a second run at the Sailors.

Barry Carroll

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