Waddy's Return Sparks Sharks

WESLEY CHAPEL - The time of the season that truly matters for the Nature Coast Technical program has finally come.

The seventh-ranked Lady Sharks blitzed their way through another mundane regular season, but the postseason has arrived to provide a jolt of excitement.

OK, maybe not too much excitement quite yet.

Nature Coast entered the Class 4A, District 8 Tournament at Wesley Chapel-Wiregrass Ranch High as the top seed thanks to a perfect 16-0 mark in district play, looking like an easy favorite to repeat as champ.

Eighth-seeded Springstead High, fresh off a 56-43 win Monday over the ninth seed, first-year Land O'Lakes-Sunlake High, offered little resistance Tuesday night in a 64-12 thrashing.

"We tried to work on our transition in the first half of the game," Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said. "I thought we did better running out in transition.

"The problem we have is in the half-court. We're not very patient. We had a bunch of bad shots in the half-court. But we worked on zone and we'll see a lot of that."

Waddy strikes early

Still this game had one very promising development for Nature Coast (20-5), the return of senior guard Cherikhan Waddy.

The county's reining Player of the Year coincidentally hadn't played since the first half of the last meeting with Springstead (4-22) on Jan. 11 because of a right leg injury.

Though the Lady Sharks won their final three games without her, they will surely need her when the competition level rises in any potential regional playoff contest.

Waddy clearly favored the leg, yet tallied six points, two steals and an assist in the first minute and a half, leading Nature Coast to a 10-0 advantage.

"I'm all right," Waddy said. "I can't make my moves like I want to. It's starting to swell up since I played on it.

"I'm just trying to fight through the pain. It's hurting but there's nothing I can do. It's district time."

She ended up with 14 points to put her six short of 1,000 for her career. She added three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

"'Rikhan looked good," Lamle said. "Her leg is still a little sore. I'm trying to work her back into game minutes. She makes us a lot better."

Shareka Maner added three steals and a hoop in that initial Nature Coast surge, in which the Lady Sharks used a swarming trap on the overmatched Lady Eagles.

The junior scored only four points but ended up with 10 rebounds, seven steals, three assists and a blocked shot.

Seniors April Trezise and Lauren Wajerski chipped in 16 and 10 points respectively, with Wajerski adding four steals, four rebounds and three assists.

Starting point guard Crystal Anthony tallied five assists and three steals despite going scoreless.

Jen Marshall had six points and five steals off the bench, including a steal and lay-up as time expired in the first half. That made it 43-8, meaning the entire second half would play under a running clock.

Springstead managed only one field goal over the final two periods, Lynsay Riddle's three-pointer right at the end of the fourth quarter.

Sasha Spalding had team-bests of five points and two blocks plus three steals; Bryer Zavitz posted five steals.

"Being able to win a district playoff game (against Sunlake), I think that was the second time in school history that's happened, I think that's a big deal," second-year Springstead Head Coach Todd Toomer said.

"We won one more game than last year. We won three district games (all over Sunlake), which is great. These young kids are unbelievable. They play their hearts out every single night.

"...Next season starts tomorrow. One of our other coaches told them, it depends on who wants to dedicate themselves to getting better, getting faster and that starts tomorrow."

Nature Coast had two days before its semifinal match-up, versus the winner of a Wednesday quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Hudson High and fifth-seeded Zephyrhills High.

Winning that would assure the Lady Sharks of a fifth consecutive regional berth and spot in Saturday's championship tilt.

"The practices are a lot faster," Lamle said. "I'm staying with the starters a little longer, just to make sure they're in game shape.

"We haven't played in a week and a half. We've got to get our game legs back. I thought we looked good."