What Warm-up?

LAND O'LAKES - The No. 4 seeded Central High girls' basketball team played tough against top seeded Wesley Chapel but couldn't keep up in the second half as the Lady 'Cats dominated in all areas of the game going on to win Friday night's Class 5A, District 7 semifinal, 64-35.
Wesley Chapel (21-4) arrived too late for a warm-up, and that allowed Centrals Lady Bears (12-12) to hang close enough at halftime to try and make an upset run trailing 26-18.
Down by eight at the intermission, the Bears came out of the locker room ready to play. Freshman center Raqurra Ishmar led the attack with 12 points on the night and she began the third quarter by rebounding one of her own shots and putting it back in.
With 6:37 left in the third, freshman point guard McKenzie Burns hit on one of her four field goals, followed by Raqurra driving into the lane and scoring, cutting the lead to 28-24 with 6:12 remaining in the third quarter.
That forced Wesley Chapel's Head Coach Warren Jones to call a time out.
From that point on, however, it was all Wildcats, putting four girls in double figures, led by senior forward, Cree McIver with 14 points, followed by teammate Desiree Viscaino with 11. Caitlin Duboer and Janelle Mills each finished with 10.
'Cats control
The game began with Wesley Chapel in total control from the start building an early 8-0 lead combining full court, man-to-man pressure and pushing the ball up the court on every Bear miss.
Amanda Morris put the Lady Bears on the board for the first time with a turn-around jumper and a foul, for a three-point play and getting Central back in it.
The start of the second quarter saw Central making a run at the 'Cats. Morris active on the boards grabbed a rebound and put it back in for two of her eight points, and a successful free throw, 13-10 Wesley Chapel.
With 4:01 left in the half, Burns found Ishmar underneath and she muscled her way up and scored the Bears' 16th point, coming within six of the lead.
The Bears had several fast-break opportunities, but nerves and loosing control of the ball or a turnover prevented an easy bucket.
"A combination of their post players starting to dominate us on the blocks and we were starting to run out of gas a little bit," said Central High Head Coach Penny Gressick. "Our team was definitely tired. The first two times we played them, they took us out early. This time we went out and fought."

WESLEY CHAPEL 64, CENTRAL 35
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Central 7 11 13 4 -- 35
Wesley Chapel 13 13 23 15 -- 64
CENTRAL (35) - Brooks 0, Browdy 1 2-3 5, Burns 4 1-1 9, Gray 0, Ishmar 5 2-6 12, Lahey 0, LeCours 0 1-1 1, A. Morris 2 4-6 8, B. Morris 0, Olson 0, Relaford 0, Terrell 0, Velez 0. Totals 12 10-21 35.
WESLEY CHAPEL (64) - Bagamary 1 0-0 3, Carey 4 0-0 8, Deboer 5 0-0 10, Ducos 3 0-0 6, McIver 6 2-2 14, Mills 4 2-2 10, Pascarella 1 0-0 2, Sanders 0, Viscaino 3 5-10 11. Totals 27 9 14 64.
3-point field goals - CEN 1 (Browdy), WC 1 (Bagamary).
Total fouls - CEN 9; WC 14.
Fouled out - none.
Technicals - none.
Records - Central (12-12), Wesley Chapel (21-4).