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Girls Basketball: Defense Carries Gulf Past Wiregrass Ranch

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By LEE DIEKEMPER/Tribune correspondent

Published: January 15, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - For Gulf girls basketball coach Mike Quarto, his strategy in the waning days of the regular season is simple: play defense.

"Since Christmas our goal was to hold teams under 40 points," the Buccaneers coach said. "We figure if we can keep a team to under 40 or maybe around 40, we have a good opportunity to win."

His team failed at their initial goal Thursday night but reached their primary goal. Gulf held Wiregrass Ranch to just 12 points in the second half to upset the Bulls 47-41 at New Port Richey.

Had it not been for a mental lapse in the third quarter Gulf (16-3) may very well have shut out Wiregrass Ranch in the third. Julie Gould got a steal and a layup for the Bulls' lone field goal of the quarter which, oddly enough, nearly saved Wiregrass Ranch (17-2).

Offensively, the Bucs were beyond patient which, not unlike in football, kept the ball out of the hands of the Bulls which limited their possessions.

A perfect example of the Bucs' patience came late in the third quarter. After Gould's bucket with just under three minutes left, the Bulls came out in a triangle-and-two defense. Quarto countered with a soft four-corners offense, passing the ball inside with the ball quickly kicked back out.

Quarto said it wasn't meant to be a four-corners offense, though it had the appearance of one. Rather, Quarto had his team wait until a Bulls defender was caught out of position to make a move to the basket.

"We got the ball to the right places at the right time," Quarto said. "We were just swinging the ball back and forth hoping to get an easy layup."

"It was really important for us to slow it down," Gulf guard Nicole Adams said. "[Wiregrass Ranch] is such a quick team that works so well in the transition. We figured if we kept the game to a half-court game we'd come out with a victory."

Another example of the Bucs' solid fundamentals was free-throw shooting. Gulf sank 21 of 25 attempts. Most of those came in critical moments late in the game with the outcome still in doubt and Adams at the line. The sophomore point guard, who has only missed 22 of 126 free throw attempts all season, nailed five of six in the last 76 seconds to seal the win.

"Our goal was to get to the free throw line late," Adams said. "We knew they were going to go on a run. We just needed to contain that run.

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