TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Leave A Light On; South Lake Visits NCT

4A-II GIRLS BASKETBALL

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: February 12, 2009

Last Wednesday just before the start of a quarterfinal game of the Class 4A, District 8 Tournament, the lights went out in the Nature Coast Technical gym.

Seems any sort of power outage involving Nature Coast recalls memories of November's fateful football game at Groveland-South Lake High.

That night the lights went out at the stadium with just a few minutes remaining in the game. An altercation between the two squads broke out in the darkness, leading to an unceremonious end of the season for both teams.

Flash forward to last week's power failure. As everyone waited for the lights to come back on, one student in the hallways connected to the gym could be heard joking, "South Lake just pulled up."

Well, tonight that's no joke. A South Lake team really will arrive in the Nature Coast parking lot, as the Lady Sharks host the Lady Eagles in a 7 p.m. Class 4A, Region II quarterfinal.

"I don't foresee any incidents," Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said. "It's a totally different sport; the wounds have healed."

"I don't expect any issues," South Lake Head Coach Mandy Shafer said. "I'd be disappointed if there were."

The Lady Sharks already dealt with this situation when they traveled to a post-Christmas tournament at South Lake. No problems arose, though the two teams never met.

Coming in hot

Nature Coast (21-6) comes in riding high, having won its third straight District 8 championship despite entering the tournament as the third seed.

Senior center Shareka Maner carried the Lady Sharks through three riveting games, including wins over second-seeded Gulf and top seed Wiregrass Ranch.

She posted three straight 20-point games, averaging 23 for the tournament to go along with 9.3 rebounds.

"As long as she's there," Lamle said of Maner in tonight's contest, "I like our chances."

While Nature Coast has never missed out on regionals in its six-year history, South Lake (19-8) returns to the state playoffs for the first time since 2004 as the 4A-7 runner-up.

"We're very excited to be in regionals," said Shafer, in her second year at the helm. "Our goal before the season was to hopefully advance to the regional tournament and we've done that.

"This is very new for the girls on my team. They're excited about the opportunity we have."

The Lady Eagles are led by junior point guard Tamica Mora, averaging 17.9 points, 5.1 assists and 3.2 steals per game.

Junior Courtney Waite averages 11.2 points and 1.7 steals, senior Marjorie Thompson 9.3 points and 1.6 steals, and sophomore Amanda Merritt 9.0 points and 1.9 steals. All are listed as guards.

In the post, junior Nikki Holtzer puts up averages of 5.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

"They're very guard-oriented," Lamle said. "If they start hitting from the outside, it's best to take that away. They're quick and much more athletic than we are. And they love to get up and down in transition."

What stands out most about South Lake is the three-point shooting. The Lady Eagles have attempted 482 shots from beyond the arc, making 143 (30 percent).

By comparison, the Lady Sharks have made just 60 treys on the season and as a team haven't made or put up as many as Mora alone (87-of-233).

"We're definitely guard-oriented, that's no secret," Shafer said. "I always like to get out and run with my teams. We hope to push the ball in transition and generate easy baskets.

"We're not very tall, again that's no secret. When you're not very tall, you have to do other things. One of those is running the floor."

Shafer admits that because of their lack of size, the Lady Eagles don't have much choice but to depend heavily on their outside shooting.

Conversely, though the Lady Sharks are hardly a big team, Lamle believes they can exploit a size advantage with Maner (6-foot), Alyssa Joens (5-foot-9) and Alexis Helfand (5-foot-11).

"I like the match-up against this team," Lamle said. "They don't have a tremendous amount of size. I think we've got to key in on one or two players. I like our chances. But I liked our chances last year and we lost."

Battle-tested

Last year Nature Coast possessed a more senior-laden roster that at least on paper seemed more capable of making a lengthy postseason run.

However, those Lady Sharks never played a close game until the first round of regionals, something that came back to haunt them in an overtime home loss to Poinciana.

This season Nature Coast has endured a handful of nail-biters and had to claw its way through a competitive district.

"They understand how to handle pressure a lot better than last year," Lamle said, before adding that the pressure still exists.

"To me it's still Nature Coast. The expectation is there, especially on the girls' basketball side, to be a great team. That expectation is there from the outside and themselves."

So what do the opposing coaches see as the keys for their respective teams to pull out a win? It should come down to Maner and company in the paint versus Mora and friends from the perimeter.

"I think we have to establish a good tempo that we are comfortable playing," Shafer said. "Limiting turnovers has been a key for us all season. We have to play smart and hopefully we shoot the ball well. I don't think the lack of experience will hurt us at all."

"We've got to slow down the point guard (Mora)," Lamle said. "We've got to stop them in transition as much as we can. And they're fairly athletic, which tends to hurt us on the glass.

"We'd like to slow it down in transition and if we can limit them to one shot, I think our chances are pretty good."

AT A GLANCE
WHAT: 2009 FHSAA Class 4A, Region II quarterfinal
WHO: Groveland-South Lake Lady Eagles (19-8, 4A-7 runners-up) vs. Nature Coast Technical Lady Sharks (21-6, 4A-8 champions).
WHEN: Today, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Nature Coast's gym.
AT STAKE: Spot in Feb. 17 regional semifinal against Wiregrass Ranch/Orlando-Bishop Moore winner.
PROBABLE STARTERS: South Lake (Mandy Shafer, 2nd year) – C Nikki Holtzer (Jr), G/F Marjorie Thompson (Sr), G Amanda Merritt (So), G Courtney Waite (Jr), PG Tamica Mora (Jr); Nature Coast (Travis Lamle, 2nd year) – C Shareka Maner (Sr), F Alyssa Joens (Jr), F Alexis Helfand (So), G Jen Marshall (Jr), PG Crystal Anthony (Sr).

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT