Unsweetened...Nature Coast Falls to Kissimmee-Poinciana in OT, 50-46

BROOKSVILLE - With Orlando-Bishop Moore Catholic lying in wait, Nature Coast Technical couldn't hold up its end of the bargain.

The fifth-ranked Lady Sharks had hoped for another shot at their long-time postseason nemesis in the Sweet 16, but this time couldn't make it that far.

Perhaps their lack of competition in Class 4A, District 8 came back to haunt them, or maybe an injury to their best player became too much to overcome.

Either way, 4A-8 champion Nature Coast fell to visiting 4A-7 runner-up Kissimmee-Poinciana High in a 4A-Region II quarterfinal Thursday night in overtime, 50-46.

This marked only the second time in the school's five-year history that the team failed to reach the Sweet 16, and dropped its all-time regional record to 3-5.

"The first part of the game we were settling for jump shots, not going for the rim," first-year Nature Coast Head Coach Travis Lamle said. "But overall I thought our kids played a good game. If we play four quarters instead of two, it's a different game."

Slow start

Unfortunately for the Lady Sharks (22-6), they came into this game largely untested. They had only one game decided by single digits, a 50-45 win at Gulf High on Dec. 6.

Health was another concern, as reining County Player of the Year Cherikhan Waddy played through a leg injury that had caused her to miss four of the team's last six contests.

A playoff hero last year for her ability to drive to the basket and either score or draw contact, Waddy had only two points before a jumper at the end of the third quarter and finished with nine.

The senior guard did add 12 rebounds; however she sat out most of the second quarter and clearly favored the leg.

"'Rikhan was hurt," Lamle said. "The leg was hurting her in the first (half) a little bit."

All this seemed to conspire against the Lady Sharks during a listless opening half.

Twice they fell behind by as many as nine points, with Poinciana (25-3) point guard Yashira Delgado showing why she won the Osceola County Player of the Year award last year.

Delgado tallied only two of seven points in the first half, yet constantly set up her teammates and led a suffocating press that exhibited the Lady Eagles' quickness.

"We just wanted to get it out of (Waddy's) hands," Poinciana Head Coach Jamerson Jones said. "We wanted to put pressure on her. If she didn't get the ball, 55 (Shareka Maner) was not getting it.

"...That's what we do. We run up and down the floor. We want an ugly game. We don't have the best shooters, the best rebounders, but we have hustlers."

Down 24-18 at halftime, Nature Coast fell behind by nine again, 33-24 on a Delgado free throw with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

Waddy finally knocked down a jumper with 0.1 on the clock, though missed a free throw that would have turned it into a three-point play.

Still, it cut the deficit to 33-27, and gave the Lady Sharks some momentum heading to the final period.

Maner, who had 17 points, 18 rebounds, four blocked shots and four steals, hit a lay-up in the post to knot it at 41 with 2:19 to play.

Senior April Trezise drew a foul on the other end when a Poinciana player went over her back, and knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to put Nature Coast in front.

Lyllique Roman's free throw tied it at 42 at 1:20, and the Lady Sharks opted to run the clock and play for the final shot.

It nearly backfired when Delgado stole an inbounds pass only to miss the go-ahead lay-up. A traveling call gave the ball back to the Lady Eagles, though they failed to get a shot off.

Roman steps up

Nature Coast took the first lead of the extra period, when Kaitlin Wadsworth hit a cutting Maner for a basket.

Roman, a senior already signed with Stetson University, scored off an offensive rebound, and Waddy's jumper bounced off the rim and fell to make it 46-44 with 2:13 on the clock.

A free throw by Roman had turned it into a one-point game, and she helped put Poinciana back ahead passing to Brina Garrett for a lay-up at the 1:25 mark.

Maner missed two pivotal free throws with 1:04 to go, and Roman pushed the lead to three on a lay-up with 46 ticks left.

Nature Coast failed to score on its next possession despite an offensive rebound. Delgado's free throw with 21.1 remaining made it a two-possession game, and the Lady Sharks couldn't creep any closer.

"I think they ran out of gas," said Jones, whose team earned a rematch of the 4A-7 title game with Bishop Moore in the next round. "We ran out of gas in the fourth quarter; they ran out of gas in OT.

"...They played hard. It was a good game. It's our first playoff game win. I have nothing but praise for the girls."

Roman finished with a game-high 21 points, five in overtime, and 10 rebounds. Delgado tallied nine steals and five assists. Bianca Toro added 12 points, and Diane McCalla 10 rebounds.

Trezise registered 10 points, five rebounds, two steals and block, and fellow senior Lauren Wajerski chipped in five points and seven rebounds.

In another key blow for the Lady Sharks, both fouled out, and were forced to watch their final prep game end from the bench.

Those two and Waddy will all graduate this year, ending a three-year run for this core group that included two district titles, but fell short of lofty expectations.

"If you look at the numbers, (the season) was successful," said Lamle, who took over as headman after three years as an assistant to Jason Montgomery. "We accomplished the district championship, but we wanted to go farther than that.

"Our goal was to get out of the Sweet 16, beat Bishop Moore and take a run at the Final Four. With seven seniors, we've got kids that want it. That was our original goal; we didn't make it. If you ask me if it's a success, I'd say no because we didn't reach it. But I still thought it was a good season."

KISSIMMEE-POINCIANA 50, NATURE COAST 46 (OT)
Qtr. scoring 1 2 3 4 OT    
Poinciana 17 7 9 9 8 - 50
Nature Coast 13 5 9 15 4 - 46
Kissimmee-Poinciana (50): Roman 8 3-7 21, McCalla 3 0-0 6, Nerius 1 0-0 2, Delgado 2 3-9 7, Toro 3 5-11 12, Garrett 1 0-0 2, N. Aristor 0. Totals 18 11-27 50.
Nature Coast (46): Maner 7 3-7 17, Wajerski 1 3-4 5, Trezise 3 4-9 10, Anthony 2 0-0 4, Waddy 4 1-3 9, Joens 0 1-2 1, Priest 0 0-1 0, Wadsworth 0, Marshall 0, Helfand 0. Totals 17 12-26 46.
Three-point field goals: POI 3 (Roman 2, Toro).
Total fouls: POI 23; NCT 23.
Technical fouls: none.
Fouled out: Nerius, Toro (POI); Wajerski, Trezise, Maner (NCT).
Records: Kissimmee-Poinciana (25-3), Nature Coast (22-6).