Hernando Notches First Win

A night after dropping its season-opener at Nature Coast Technical and losing starting guard Rianna Jenkins to a dislocated ankle, Hernando High bounced back.

In their home opener Tuesday night, the Lady Leopards defeated Class 4A, District 8 foe Zephyrhills High, 57-43.

Hernando (1-1 overall, 1-1 4A-8) outscored the Lady Bulldogs (0-1 overall, 0-1 4A-8) 38-17 in the second half to pull out its first victory of the season.

In a lengthy first half featuring a combined 27 foul by both teams, the Lady Leopards rallied from a 19-12 deficit to tie it at 19 on a Liz Lawrence free throw with less than a minute and a half remaining in the half.

However, the Lady Bulldogs finished up the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 26-19 edge into the intermission.

Hernando played most of the second period without All-County forward Jasmire Brown, plagued by foul trouble.

Despite picking up her fourth foul midway through the third quarter, she scored six points as the Lady Leopards outscored the Lady Bulldogs, 18-6.

Brittany Flowers added seven points in the period, she and Brown combining for three straight lay-ups that put Hernando in front, 32-30.

The Lady Leopards never relinquished that advantage, with Desirae Woods pulling down 25 rebounds to go along with 14 points. Flowers finished with 18 points and Brown 12.

"More intensity," Hernando Head Coach Pete Lahey said of the difference in the second half. "They just started playing a little better defense.

"Desirae really hit the boards hard in the second half. She had 25 rebounds for the game, she really worked hard on the boards. I'm proud of her and everybody else on the team."

HERNANDO 57, ZEPHYRHILLS 43
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Zephyrhills 10 16 6 11 - 43
Hernando 8 11 18 20 - 57
Zephyrhills (43): Parker 1 1-4 3, Gonzalez 1 2-6 4, Jordan 2 0-0 5, Williams 4 9-11 19, Patria 2 0-0 4, Whitworth 1 0-0 3, Warner 1 0-0 3, Stinyard 1 0-0 2, Gill 0 0-2 0, Humphreys 0 0-1 0, McKenzie 0, Crist 0. Totals 13 12-24 43.
Hernando (57): Brown 6 0-0 12, Flowers 8 2-7 18, Woods 6 2-5 14, Liles 1 1-4 3, Lawrence 1 6-20 8, White 1 0-0 2, Geiger 0, Beverland 0. Totals 23 11-36 57.
Three-point field goals: ZEP 5 (Williams 2, Whitworth, Warner, Jordan); HER 0.
Total fouls: ZEP 29; HER 18.
Technical fouls: none.
Fouled out: Patria, Jordan (ZEP).
Records: Zephyrhills (0-1 overall, 0-1 4A-8), Hernando (1-1 overall, 1-1 4A-8).