Saints March On

OCALA - Sometimes second is still best.

That was the case when the Hernando Christian Academy's girls' basketball team suffered its seventh loss of the season, giving it second place in the Class 1A, District 6 Tournament Saturday night, at the hands of host St. John Lutheran, 61-23.

"We got outplayed," said Lady Lion Head Coach Jim Bragg, whose team defeated the Seven Rivers Christian Warriors, 55-19, just the night before on this same court. "They showed up to play, apparently we didn't show up today, but we gave it a good second-half effort to try to close it a little bit."

But Bragg also showed respect for the top-seeded team.

"St. John is very good, but I think we kind of panicked a little bit. We're still in the playoffs; we're the second team in the county still in it, so that's pretty good," commented Bragg. "We go back to work Monday to get ready to play somebody else Thursday."

In Bragg's fourth year as HCA head coach, he turned around a losing program with a core group of girls that he will graduate this year.

"This is the first time in HCA history that they made it this far. I'm very proud of this team," said Bragg. "My first year, we went 3-18; now they made it to the district playoffs so that's a big plus."

Coach Bragg also commented on where the team goes from here.

"They gave all they had today," Bragg said. "It wasn't quite enough, but we'll bring all we got to Orlando.

"We just played real tight, we couldn't buy a bucket; it was like we were so tight everything we shot was just a throw up not really good form or technique. Maybe they were too wound up. I have to work on getting them a little looser."

HCA will travel to Lake Mary Prep (18-9) tonight for the first round of the regional tournament.