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Girls Basketball Roundup: Tampa Catholic's Win Ends Playoff Slump

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A Tribune staff report

Published: February 12, 2009

TAMPA - It had been four years since a Tampa Catholic girls basketball team won a postseason game. The Crusaders ended the drought Thursday night with a 44-36 win over Fort Myers Bishop Verot in the Class 3A-Region 3 quarterfinals.

Tampa Catholic (26-2) will host rival St. Petersburg Catholic in the region semifinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tampa Catholic is 3-0 against St. Pete Catholic this season.

Sparked by a 13-2 second-quarter run, Tampa Catholic led the entire second half and sealed the game at the free-throw line down the stretch.

Freshman guard Micah Kroll led the Crusaders with 11 points, including a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give Tampa Catholic its first double-digit lead against Bishop Verot (17-11).

"This was a big win for Tampa Catholic," Coach Nancy Kroll said.

Junior forward Sarah Brennan added 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

"I think Bishop Verot did a good job of taking us out of our game," Kroll said. "I was confident we could get back to our style of play, which is running the ball and pressing. It's very difficult to guard us because we aren't one-dimensional."

Nick Williams

Coley's 32 Spark St. Pete Catholic

SARASOTA - Jerica Coley scored a game-high 32 points to lead St. Petersburg Catholic to a 60-49 victory over Sarasota Cardinal Mooney in Class 3A-Region 3.

The Barons (21-6) ended a nine-game winning streak for Cardinal Mooney (19-7).

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Tampa Prep Uses Defense For Win

Tampa Prep coach Greg Linley wanted to wait awhile before unleashing his 1-3-1 defense on Lakeland Christian, but after falling behind by six points in the first quarter, his patience ran out.

Linley switched from the Terrapins' zone defense to their more successful scheme to create 41 turnovers for a 50-33 Class 2A-Region 3 win.

The Terrapins (17-10) advanced to Tuesday's region semifinals against Fort Meade, which beat Indian Rocks Christian 48-34.

"It 1-3-1 defense seems to work wonders for us," Linley said. "I don't like to start it playing that way. It's hard to keep up that pace the entire game."

Once Tampa Prep applied its pressure, Lakeland Christian (13-12) was the only team struggling to survive.

The Terrapins trailed 8-2 before going on a 14-2 run for a 16-10 advantage.

Tampa Prep never relinquished the lead after applying its defensive pleasure.

Tampa Prep was led by Ayala Wasser's game-high 19 points. LaTora Lofgren added 16, including three 3-pointers.

Whitney Houk led Lakeland Christian with 16 points. No other Vikings player scored in double digits.

Anwar S. Richardson

Northside Gets Rough Surprise

ST. PETERSBURG - Before Northside Christian hosted St. John Neumann in Class 2A-Region 3, Mustangs coach D.J. Jackson said he had every reason to believe it would be close - from the matchups to the final score.

After losing 48-36 to finish the season 21-8, Jackson admitted to being surprised.

"The size and strength of Neumann was too much for us," Jackson said. "I mean, we had a ninth-grader and an eighth-grader trying to cover senior center Paige Driapsa, who led all scorers with 13. Still, though, I was surprised they were able to push us around as much as they did."

Neumann coach Shannon McFee said his team had to work out some early nerves, which was part of the reason the score was 8-8 after one quarter. In the second and third quarters, however, Neumann (21-7) seemed to settle in as it outscored the Mustangs 11-3 in the second and 13-8 in the third.

"I most certainly am disappointed that was lost," Jackson said. "I thought we had a chance to win, but tonight we couldn't get it going like we needed to."

Scott Purks

Young Keswick Ousted In Defeat

NAPLES - Keswick Christian's inexperience was no match for the Community School of Naples as the error-prone Crusaders lost 53-32 in Class 2A-Region 3.

Junior Tori Hale scored 15 points for Keswick (13-14), which suited up only one senior. The Crusaders committed 18 turnovers and connected on only 10 field goals against Community School (24-3).

Fort Myers News-Press

Cambridge Rolls After Slow Start

Cambridge Christian coach John Wilson knew his team didn't have its best stuff in its 48-33 win over Avon Park Walker Memorial in Class 1A-Region 3.

The Lancers were sluggish throughout the first half, and Wilson said the deeper they progress through the tourney, a lot more needs to be improved on - and fast. Cambridge's next game is Tuesday against Seffner Christian.

"Let's see," Wilson said. "We have to work on our layups, our defense, our press, our shooting and our free throws. We just aren't there yet."

The Lancers had a hard time scoring in the first half and led 15-12 at the break, mostly because Walker had a hard time hitting the backboard - let along connecting - with many of its shots. Rachael Bode led Cambridge at the half with four of her game-high 17 points, but her outside game was ineffective.

That changed in the third quarter when Cambridge outscored Walker 17-8, sparked by Bode, who hit three 3-pointers at the start of the third. Once Walker started to double up on Bode, Melissa Olsson started scoring from the post and had 12 points.

Jeff Berlinicke

Seffner Rallies In 2nd Half

LAKELAND - Seffner Christian rallied to defeat Lakeland Victory Christian 48-36 in Class 1A-Region 3.

Seffner trailed 20-18 at the half, but went on a six-point run to start the third quarter. Courtney Welch led the Crusaders (15-10) with 22 points, and Arielle Sadlowski added 13. Alexandra Hagel had eight points on free throws. Seffner was 16 of 21 from the line.

Seffner built a 10-point lead to start the fourth quarter. Victory (17-2) did not score in the final period.

"We had to battle for everything tonight," Seffner coach Greg Fawbush said. "Our team knows their jobs and they do them. We had good team play."

Tribune correspondent

Canterbury Falls

ST. PETERSBURG - Sophomore Maria DeKuiper led all scorers with 24 points and added 11 rebounds as Bradenton Christian beat Canterbury 71-30 in Class 1A-Region 3.

Lakeside Loses

SARASOTA - Nakita Chadwick scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as Sarasota Christian defeated outmanned Lakeside Christian 86-22 in Class 1A-Region 3. The Lions, who had only six players in uniform, trailed 55-6 at halftime.

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