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Central's Relaford, Morris Shine

5A-7 GIRLS BASKETBALL

Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

Central sophomore Tikiera Relaford dropped in a game-high 14 points Wednesday night to help eliminate River Ridge, 44-31.

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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: February 4, 2009

WESLEY CHAPEL - Central sophomore Tikiera Relaford and senior Amanda Morris combined for 26 points Wednesday night as the Lady Bears (5-16) eliminated No. 5 seed New Port Richey-River Ridge (2-16) in the opening round of the Class 5A, District 7 Girls Basketball Tournament at Wesley Chapel High School, 44-31.
CHS, which tallied the game's initial eight points, never trailed in the season's third meeting against first-year Head Coach Donna Masterson's Royal Knights.
CHS had solved the Knights twice (45-24, 51-28) but were forced to forfeit seven games (including four district wins last week) due to the use of an ineligible player.
With the win, the Bears face top seed Wesley Chapel at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The host Wildcats caged the Bears twice during the regular season, winning 67-52 and 56-54.

Bear heroes

Relaford tallied six of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter to permit the No. 4 seed Lady Bears to build a 12-2 cushion after eight minutes.
"Tonight was kinda frustrating," explained the athletic 16-year-old Relaford, who placed fourth as a freshman in the Class 3A State Finals in the high jump last spring. "They were pushing hard. This win allows us to play on Friday."
Over the next two quarters, Masterson's team hung around being out-scored by a combined 22-21 count in the second and third quarters.
The Bears, however, literally stepped on the Royal Knights' throats in the final period as Relaford ignited a CHS spurt by tallying eight of Central's 10 points in the period.
Morris finished with 12 points, but typified the Bears' frigid shooting going 1-for-7 in the second half. She finished 5-of-20 on the night.
All told, CHS misfired on 52-of-71 field goal attempts, shooting 27 percent on the night – nearly matching the 35-degree temperatures outside.
"I thought we played down to their level," lamented the 17-year-old Morris. "We let them hang around, but we weren't about to lose this game."
What about Friday?
"We all have to step up our game," replied Morris. "We can all play much better than we did tonight. We moved the ball well, we rebounded well, but we've got to take the ball to the hoop."
Central High's fifth-year Head Coach Penny Gressick believes her team can play at a higher pace.
"I told the kids at halftime, we can't allow a team like that to just hang around," she recalled. "We started off so well and then the pace kinda bogged down. We hadn't played since last Tuesday and it showed."
Overall?
"We did move the ball well," she answered. "But we didn't shoot the ball with confidence. Hey, at least we live for another day. At this point, I'm just worried about how we come mentally (on Friday). I hope we come out and fight and be competitive."

Long night

On the other end, River Ridge hurt its upset bid clanking 38-of-50 field goal attempts while committing a game-high 22 turnovers. While Knights went 1-for-13 from the field to open the fourth quarter, the Bears' led by sophomore point guard McKenzie Burns (four assists) expanded a third-quarter 5-point cushion (22-17) into a turn-out-the-lights 43-23 gap with 4:09 left in the game.
Royal Knight junior Jasmine Warren paced the Knights with eight points.

CENTRAL 44, RIVER RIDGE 31
Qtr. Scoring          1  2  3  4
Central               12 10 12 10 — 44
River Ridge           2 12 9 8 — 31
CENTRAL (44) – B. Morris 3 1-2 7, A. Morris 5 2-2 12, Relaford 6 2-6 14, Burns 2 0-0 5, Mejia 1 0-0 2, A. Velez 1 0-0 2, Lynch 10-0 2, Sims 0, Walton 0, Anderson 0. Totals 19 5-10 44.
RIVER RIDGE (31) – Crumbley 3 0-4 6, Robielnik 10-0 2, Smeltz 1 0-0 2, McCann 0, Ball 2 0-0 5, Donato 0, Gilmartin 0, Warren 2 3-4 8, Shull 1 2-2 4, Kostagiannes 2 0-2 4. Totals 12 5-12 31.
Three-point field goals: CEN: Burns; RR: Ball, Warren.
Total fouls: CEN: 12; RR 11.
Fouled out: SNL: none.
Technical fouls: none.
Records: Central (5-16), River Ridge (2-16).

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at 544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com.

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