As Mills Explodes, Feisty Bears Exit, 69-54

For six long weeks, Wesley Chapel's girls' basketball played without its 6-foot-2 of strength Janelle Mills.
Mills, who was sidelined with a broken wrist, made a triumphant return Friday in second of two Class 5A, District 7 semifinals on the Wildcat floor in East Pasco County.
Mills, who is also a standout student in the classroom sporting a 3.8 grade point average, poured in 23 points, including eight markers in the final 3:43 to seal the Wildcats' third win this season over Central (5-17), 68-54.
Not that Mills was alone.
Sophomore Jeileen Mas-Rodriguez added 13 points while classmate Shantel Houston added 12 points carving up the Central defense with six driving layups.
With the win, Head Coach Karim Nohra's 'Cats (23-2) host Land O'Lakes in Saturday's 5A-7 finale.
Earlier on Friday, the No. 3 seed Lady Gators ripped No. 2 seed Ridgewood, 61-30.
Wesley Chapel, which converted 31-of-76 field goals (game-high 41 percent), trailed once on Central sophomore point guard McKenzie Burns' three-pointer at 6:57 of the opening quarter.
Central dug an early hole by committing 11 of its 22 turnovers in the opening stanza to fall behind 18-10 after eight minutes.
CHS, which forced 25 Wildcat turnovers, could not penetrate inside with the cat-quick Mills and Houston clogging the middle.
So instead, Central dialed long distance.
The Lady Bears buried 7-of-its-8 three-pointers in the first half to trail, 39-32 at the intermission.
One of the Bears' six seniors, Blair Morris, kept the visitors in the hunt by converting 4-of-5 three-point opportunities in the first half.
In the second half, Coach Nohra's defense adjusted stepping out on perimeter regulating the Bears to one trey.
CHS remained in the game trailing 54-49 with 6:49 in the game.
That's when Morris, who had 15 first-half points, missed three critical free throws. After another Wildcat turnover, Burns missed a wide-open three-pointer at the top of the key.
From that point on, fatigue set in as the 'Cats outscored the Bears, 14-5, with Mills the catalyst collecting eight points on four layups.
Despite the setback, the Bears' fifth-year Head Coach Penny Gressick believed her team went down fighting.
"We missed a couple really good looks with the game on the line," recalled Gressick. "Basically all they were doing was clearing out and feeding No. 34 (Mills). She scored 20-some-odd on us. That hurt us. We had no answer for her."
And the effort?
"The kids fought hard," replied Gressick. "I can't complain; the effort was great. We don't have the luxury of subbing 4-5 kids. We played who we had until their legs gave out."
Any regrets?
"Yeah, we deserved to be the No. 2 seed, but it just didn't turn out that way," she said. "We should have been in the other bracket. I start two sophomores who will be the future of this team. Right now, I feel sorry for the six girls that just played their last game. I really wanted to win this game for those kids."
"I thought we could have played better defense," added the 17-year-old Morris, who finished 4-of-14 from the field for 15 points. "But we all fought hard."
How solid is Wesley Chapel?
"They're pretty good," replied Morris. "But you couldn't have asked for a better effort from all of us. I still think we shouldn't have been in the situation (forfeiting seven games to lose the No. 2 seed) to start with."
"We simply got tired," summed up the 15-year-old Burns, who finished 7-of-12 from the field, for a team-best 16 points. "Today we were out of our regular routine. There was no school. And we were home all day and then we played a game. It was odd."
And Wesley Chapel?
"They're pretty good," she answered. "They came to play, but so did we. I don't have any regrets. I'm looking forward to next year."
One other Central standout was sophomore Tikiera Relaford, who finished with seven points, complimenting her 10 rebounds and one blocked shot.

WESLEY CHAPEL 68, CENTRAL 54
Qtr. Scoring           1  2  3  4
Central               10 22 14 8 - 54
Wesley Chapel         18 21 15 14 - 68
CENTRAL (44) - B. Morris 3 1-2 7, A. Morris 5 2-2 12, Relaford 6 2-6 14, Burns 2 0-0 5, Mejia 1 0-0 2, A. Velez 1 0-0 2, Lynch 10-0 2, Sims 0, Walton 0, Anderson 0. Totals 19 5-10 44.
WESLEY CHAPEL (68) - Cannon 1 2-4 4, Mas-Rodriguez 6 0-0 13, Lennox 1 0-0 2, Brown 1 0-0 2, Noble 5 0-0 12, Houston 6 0-0 12, Mills 11 1-3 23. Totals 31 3-7 68.
Three-point field goals: CEN: B. Morris (4), Burns (2), Mejia, A. Velez; WC: Noble (2), Mas-Rodriguez.
Total fouls: CEN: 10; WC 14.
Fouled out: CEN: Relaford.
Technical fouls: none.
Records: Central (5-17), Wesley Chapel (23-2).

Class 5A, District 7 Tourney Recap
at Wesley Chapel

02-04:
Central 44, River Ridge 31

02-06:
Land O'Lakes 61, Ridgewood 30
Wesley Chapel 66, Central 54

02-07:
(Championship)
Land O'Lakes vs. Wesley Chapel, 7 p.m.