TAMPA - Nearly a week ago, after a district final loss to Wesley Chapel, Kayli Keough stood in front of her Land O' Lakes teammates and delivered an edict:
"We are not losing to Freedom."
That message was internalized, and it produced a dominating 49-32 Land O' Lakes victory in a Class 5A-Region 2 quarterfinal matchup at Freedom.
"The loss last week was tough," Keough said. "We came out playing really hard, and we really wanted to win, so losing that just gave us a lot of fuel."
Land O' Lakes (25-3) will get a second shot at Wesley Chapel, a 38-34 winner against Tampa Bay Tech, on Tuesday.
Freedom (20-8) was sluggish at the start of Thursday's game and did not hit a basket until the 1:59 mark of the first quarter.
At the 5:10 mark of the second period, Kelley Maronic's 3-pointer cut the Land O' Lakes advantage to 17-11, but the Patriots could not get closer.
"We came out here and it was our mission to not lose," Land O' Lakes coach Laurie Pacholke said. "We knew we had to play with intensity and take control of the game from the tip-off."
The second half became the Keough Show as Kayli and younger sister Meghan scored all but two of the Gators' 24 points. Meghan Keough led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Kayli's 19.
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