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By George! Bishop Moore Bests NCT Again, 74-29

4A-II GIRLS BASKETBALL

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: February 17, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - For a few fleeting minutes, Nature Coast Technical almost looked like it had a chance. Alas, Orlando-Bishop Moore Catholic showed it's the defending state champion for a reason.

The Lady Sharks, hosting the Lady Hornets in Tuesday night's Class 4A, Region II semifinal, came out strong, grabbing a couple of small leads early.

Shareka Maner knotted the score at 10 midway through the first quarter. Then Bishop Moore turned it on behind senior center Jennifer George, a University of Florida signee.

By halftime the Lady Hornets held a 44-14 lead and cruised to a 74-29 victory, with George posting a triple-double with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

"She's real good," Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said. "I didn't think she was going to be that good, I'm not going to lie. But she was very impressive."

She was, and so were the Lady Hornets (28-2). Point guard Lindsey Watson, another senior headed for Hofstra, added 18 points, four assists and six steals.

Courtney Keys chipped in 12 points and five assists; Lindsay Silva tallied 11 points and nine rebounds.

Maner, who had four straight 20-point games between the 4A-8 Tournament and last Thursday's quarterfinal victory over South Lake, led Nature Coast (22-7) with nine points and eight rebounds.

However, after her game-tying putback in the first quarter, she didn't score again until 4:37 left to play, clearly having her hands full with George.

This marked the fourth time in as many playoff meetings that Bishop Moore has defeated the Lady Sharks. The Lady Hornets will move down to Class 3A next season.

Despite the setback, Nature Coast could take pride in exceeding preseason expectations. Only seniors Maner and point guard Crystal Anthony returned as starters from the previous campaign, yet the Lady Sharks managed a district championship three-peat and advanced a round further in regionals.

"They knew what we were up against," Lamle said. "They've kind of overachieved all year long. Shareka and Crystal have carried us all year long.

"…I don't think anyone thought we'd go this far to begin with. I think it's a success, 22-7 when you're only returning two kids that started last year.

"(Jen) Marshall was incredible all year long. (Alyssa) Joens was real big for us all year. Alexis (Helfand) played well. We've got a good core of kids coming back."

BISHOP MOORE 74, NATURE COAST 29
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Bishop Moore 20 24 18 12 — 74
Nature Coast 12 2 2 13 — 29
Bishop Moore (74): Cowart 2 0-0 5, Silva 4 3-3 11, George 12 2-3 26, Watson 7 2-2 18, Keys 6 0-0 12, Baker 1 0-0 2, Murphy 0, Gosche 0, Burbank 0, Tomlinson 0. Totals 32 7-8 74.
Nature Coast (29): Helfand 0, Joens 0, Maner 4 0-0 9, Anthony 3 0-2 7, Marshall 3 2-3 8, Byrd 2 0-0 5, Johnson 0, Bossey 0, Hattaway 0, Peterson 0, Posposil 0. Totals 12 2-5 29.
Three-point field goals: BM 3 (Watson 2, Cowart); NCT 3 (Anthony, Maner, Byrd).
Total fouls: BM 7; NCT 5.
Technical fouls: none.
Fouled out: none.
Records: Orlando-Bishop Moore (28-2), Nature Coast (22-7).

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

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