TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Crusaders Looking To Rebound

ADVERTISEMENT

By KATHERINE SMITH

ksmith@tampatrib.com

Published: January 21, 2009

TAMPA - The Tampa Catholic girls ran into a tough Mitchell opponent last week and got a little run over. The Crusaders suffered their second loss of the season, falling 71-66 in overtime.

"The wheel is not broken, it's just a little bit flat," Tampa Catholic coach Nancy Kroll said.

The irony is the Crusaders weren't originally supposed to face Mitchell. Tampa Catholic had scheduled a game with Trinity Catholic, but a scheduling conflict left an open date for the Crusaders. Wanting to get in 25 regular-season games, Kroll added Mitchell to the calendar.

"The coach gets an F for scheduling," Kroll said.

Mitchell snapped Tampa Catholic's 14-game winning streak and snapped the Crusaders back to reality as the district tournament draws closer.

"We really just ran out of gas," said Kroll, who lost her two top scorers, Colette Eule and Micah Kroll, when they fouled out in regulation. "We need to keep working on our conditioning, and we've got to pick up our defense."

The Crusaders don't have a lot of time to regroup. They face district rival St. Petersburg Catholic on Friday with the district tournament's No. 1 seed on the line.

A Tampa Catholic victory would secure the top spot. The seeding would be determined by a coin toss if the Crusaders lose.

"We want to clinch it on the court Friday," Kroll said. "We don't want a coin toss."

Hall Returns To Action

Hillsborough's leading scorer Shalisia Hall came off the bench following a five-game suspension. Hall returned to the Terriers' lineup Saturday in their 57-31 loss to Sickles.

Hall, who leads Terriers with 14.3 points per game and is one the county leaders in 3-pointers, sat out five consecutive games as disciplinary action for missing a holiday tournament. She scored five points in the loss to the Gryphons, which snapped Hillsborough's five-game winning streak.

During Hall's absence, the Terriers went on quite a tear, including an upset victory against Plant. They close the regular season with games against two of the top teams in the county - Jefferson on Thursday and Tampa Bay Tech on Monday.

Featured Player

Amber Henson, Sickles

Sophomore Guard

Henson led the Gryphons with 18 points in their victory against Hillsborough. Henson, who leads the team with a 19.1 scoring average, also had six blocked shots and 15 rebounds, tying a season high.

Reporter Katherine Smith can be reached at (813) 259-7860.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT