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Lady Bulls Take District By The Horns

Staff photo by BOB EAST III

Nature Coast's Shareka Maner goes up for a lay-up during Friday night's game versus Wiregrass Ranch.

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: December 19, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Through the first half of Friday night's pivotal Class 4A, District 8 contest at Nature Coast Technical, one question stood out.

Just how exactly did Wiregrass Ranch manage to defeat the Lady Sharks, 62-57, on Nov. 18?

Crystal Anthony's three just prior to the halftime horn gave Nature Coast its second 10-point lead of the night, 23-13, at the intermission.

But the up-and-coming Lady Bulls, unbeaten in 4A-8 play, rallied back, using a key call against the host Lady Sharks as a springboard to a 47-43 victory.

"This is huge. This is huge," Wiregrass Ranch Head Coach Greg Finkel said. "It brings us to 11-1, two games up (in 4A-8) and districts (tournament) is being held here. We built a nice feeling in terms of being confident in this building."

Rare loss

Not too many visiting teams have left Nature Coast's gym feeling confident. The Lady Sharks (10-3 overall, 6-2 4A-8) last lost a regular-season home game on Dec. 22, 2006 to Leesburg.

The two-time defending 4A-8 champs had won 22 straight home tilts in district play, a streak dating back to the 2005-06 campaign.

Nature Coast's first loss to the Lady Bulls (11-1 overall, 9-0 4A-8) broke an overall district regular-season win streak of 33.

More important to the current situation, the Lady Sharks could have tied Wiregrass Ranch at the top of the 4A-8 standings, a little more than a week after handling the district's other contender, Gulf, 51-40.

Though the Lady Bulls went on a small run to start the second half, Nature Coast appeared in control up 28-20 at the 3:57 mark.

That's when Shareka Maner got whistled for an intentional foul and assistant coach Kelly Joyner a technical foul on the same play.

Wiregrass Ranch connected on 2-of-4 free throws, then Julie Gould scored on a lay-up while getting fouled off the inbounds. She completed the three-point play for a five-point swing, making it 28-25.

"Huge," Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said of the call. "Extremely big. I really thought that was just a block. I didn't see anything flagrant about it and the technical on the assistant, I didn't understand."

Nevertheless, momentum had clearly swung in favor of the Lady Bulls, who rattled off the final 11 points of the quarter to lead 31-28 heading into the fourth.

They outscored the Lady Sharks 18-5 in a period marred by a bevy of foul calls. The two teams combined for 32 fouls in the second half alone, producing 44 free throws.

There were two ties and two lead changes in the final quarter. Nature Coast took its last advantage, 41-39, on a pair from the charity stripe by Maner with 2:01 to play.

Regan Knapik, who had a game-high 21 points, responded with a three-point play to put Wiregrass Ranch back on top. Her steal and subsequent free throw with 15.9 remaining sealed the outcome.

"I told them (at halftime) this isn't Lady Bulls basketball," Finkel said. "We came out flat. They knew what was at stake. Nature Coast came out and played hard. They wanted it more in the first half."

Gould added 10 points and three assists for Wiregrass Ranch. Knapik contributed four steals and three assists to go along with her scoring.

Guard Jenn Marshall led the Lady Sharks with 14 points, including her team's first eight of the fourth quarter, and also chipped in six rebounds and two steals. However, both she and the point guard Anthony fouled out in the final minute.

Maner had eights points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals, but only one field goal. Alexis Helfand tallied seven points, eight boards and three assists.

"It's huge," Lamle said. "They're pretty much locked up at one (seed). That'll make us have to play Gulf to get to them. We were really hoping to take care of business tonight, hopefully get a little help from Gulf. That would have put us in the driver's seat.

"But they came out and played well. They did a great job."

WIREGRASS RANCH 47, NATURE COAST 43
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Wiregrass Ranch 9 4 18 16 — 47
Nature Coast 14 9 5 15 — 43
Wiregrass Ranch (47): Wash 1 0-0 2, McCaffrey 0, DeLoach 0 2-10 2, J. Gould 2 6-7 10, Knapik 6 7-9 21, Reid-Chacon 1 2-2 4, L. Gould 1 1-2 4, Bowman 1 0-0 2, Ballish 0 2-4 2, Donohue 0. Totals 12 20-34 47.
Nature Coast (43): Helfand 3 0-0 7, Joens 2 4-6 8, Maner 1 6-7 8, Anthony 2 0-3 6, Marshall 2 10-12 14, Johnson 0, Byrd 0, Hattaway 0. Totals 10 20-28 43.
Three-point field goals: WGR 3 (Knapik 2, L. Gould); NCT 3 (Anthony 2, Helfand).
Total fouls: WGR 23; NCT 24.
Technical fouls: J. Gould (WGR), Joyner (NCT-assistant coach).
Fouled out: McCaffrey (WGR), Marshall, Anthony (NCT).
Records: Wiregrass Ranch (11-1 overall, 9-0 4A-8), Nature Coast (10-3 overall, 6-2 4A-8).

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

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