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NCT Lights Up South Lake

4A-II GIRLS BASKETBALL

Staff photo by BOB EAST III

Nature Coast's Shareka Maner makes a jump shot over the outstretched arm of South Lake's Amanda Merritt.

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: February 12, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - This time the lights stayed on, and so did Nature Coast's season.

The Class 4A, District 8 champion Lady Sharks hosted 4A-7 runner-up Groveland-South Lake in a Region II quarterfinal Thursday night without incident, unlike the November football meeting between the two schools.

While senior center Shareka Maner continued her torrid postseason, tallying 22 points and 12 rebounds, Nature Coast turned the tables on the up-tempo, hot-shooting Lady Eagles.

The Lady Sharks knocked down five three-pointers and controlled the fast break with guards Crystal Anthony and Jen Marshall, reaching the Sweet 16 for the fourth time with a 63-46 victory.

"It's pretty amazing," Marshall said. "I'm sure (seniors) Shareka and Crystal feel amazing. To come in as the three seed in the district tournament and end up in the top 16 feels pretty good."

Return to glory

A year ago Nature Coast (22-6) dropped an overtime decision to Poinciana despite starting three seniors and two juniors.

With two juniors (Marshall and Alyssa Joens) and a sophomore (Alexis Helfand) joining Maner and Anthony in the starting line-up, and a sophomore (Brittany Johnson) and freshman (Mariah Byrd) as the main bench contributors, the Lady Sharks still managed to advance further this time around.

"For me, I felt like we should have won that game last year," Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said. "This year I think they took that so much to heart.

"They've been on one heck of a run here at the end. It means a lot to them. They don't want to play their last game."

Nature Coast burst out of the gate in this one, jumping on a South Lake (19-9) squad that had no regional experience and had to travel from Lake County.

A three-pointer by Helfand, a nifty left-handed putback by Joens and a fast-break basket by Marshall made it 7-0 less than two minutes in, forcing a Lady Eagle timeout.

A banked three by Anthony pushed it to 12-2, yet South Lake battled back to tie it at 14 on two free throws by Nikki Holtzer with 49.7 seconds left in the quarter.

Maner gave the Lady Sharks a two-point edge heading into the second, but the Lady Eagles grabbed their first and only lead on a Tamica Mora trey at the 4:26 mark, 21-20.

That advantage reached three before Nature Coast rallied for a 31-27 halftime lead. That slowly increased over the course of the second half, with Maner notching 14 of her points.

At one point late in the third quarter, she tipped a pass at midcourt which Johnson grabbed and passed back to Maner, who took it in for a bucket.

The Lady Sharks stymied the South Lake offense using the 6-foot Maner to pressure the point guard, Mora, at halfcourt.

"It's amazing," Maner said of the team's performance. "It's out chemistry, just everyone working together."

When Marshall intercepted a pass and took it the other way for two, making 55-40 with 3:15 to play, it seemed to end any hope for the Lady Eagles to make a last-ditch comeback.

Marshall had 17 points and five steals, while Anthony contributed eight points and nine assists.

"We've got that fast break down pat," Marshall said. "When someone gets the rebound, (Anthony) knows to look up right away, me and Alexis Helfand are running down the floor. If someone is open, she'll get it to us."

Mora, who came in having both attempted and made more three-pointers than the entire Nature Coast roster, connected just twice from beyond the arc, accounting for her team's total.

She had 11 points, four assists and two steals, while Courtney Waite added 12 points and five rebounds.

"We couldn't make any shots," South Lake Head Coach Mandy Shafer said. "Their halfcourt trap bothered us a lot. They backed off it in the first half because we were able to make some shots. But in the second half, we couldn't buy a basket.

"…I was a little surprised (by the Nature Coast transition game). It's tough when you don't play a team before now. We didn't get back when they ran on us and it really hurt us. They got easy baskets and we didn't."

The Lady Sharks now face a considerably greater and familiar challenge in the semifinals. Orlando-Bishop Moore, the defending state champion that has knocked Nature Coast out of the playoffs three times, will come to Brooksville for a 7 p.m. contest on Tuesday night.

The Lady Hornets destroyed 4A-8 runner-up Wiregrass Ranch, 68-17. Lamle seemed well aware of the mountain his squad must climb.

"They're incredible," Lamle said of Bishop Moore. "They were the state champs last year. They didn't graduate a starter. It's going to be tough."

NATURE COAST 63, SOUTH LAKE 46
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
South Lake 14 13 12 7 — 46
Nature Coast 16 15 20 12 — 63
South Lake (46): Merritt 4 0-0 8, Thompson 3 0-0 6, Holtzer 2 3-4 7, Mora 4 1-2 11, Waite 5 2-4 12, Finley 1 0-0 2, Rivera 0, Walden 0. Totals 19 6-10 46.
Nature Coast (63): Helfand 3 2-3 9, Joens 2 0-0 4, Maner 10 2-2 22, Anthony 2 2-7 8, Marshall 7 2-2 17, Byrd 1 0-0 3, Johnson 0, Bossey 0, Hattaway 0, Peterson 0, Posposil 0. Totals 25 8-14 63.
Three-point field goals: SL 2 (Mora 2); NCT 5 (Anthony 2, Helfand, Byrd, Marshall).
Total fouls: SL 15; NCT 8.
Technical fouls: none.
Fouled out: Mora (SL).
Records: South Lake (19-9), Nature Coast (22-6).

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

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