NCT, HCA roll into regionals

Nearly a decade ago, when Nature Coast first opened its doors and its girls basketball program stormed out of the gate, Pasco stood in its way.

For the initial few seasons of the Lady Sharks' existence, the Lady Pirates were a constant rival.

After first-year Nature Coast dropped its district tournament final to Pasco in 2004, it returned the favor in the 2005 and 2007 finals and 2006 semifinals.

This history, ancient by prep standards, likely won't resonate with the current personnel of the two teams.

Yet in a way, as the Lady Sharks return to regionals after a two-year absence, they have come full circle. They'll host the Lady Pirates in a Class 5A, Region II quarterfinal tonight at 7.

Meanwhile, Hernando Christian Academy faces a long trip to Avon Park to take on undefeated Walker Memorial Academy for a 2A-II quarterfinal at 7 p.m.

Nature Coast (21-3) comes in fresh off winning the 5A-7 championship Saturday night, surviving a physical battle with Tavares, 50-35.

"It's very satisfying, and I'll probably tell the girls to enjoy this throughout the weekend," Nature Coast head coach Emily Gore said after that game.

"But on Monday we go back to work. We do have one more goal, to go to the Sweet 16, and we've put ourselves in a good position to do that."

This matchup with Pasco (22-3) will be a study in contrasts.

The Lady Sharks are a senior-laden squad with considerable size and length, made evident when center Lyndsey Pospisil and forward Courtney Crawford combined for 25 points, 30 rebounds and six blocks against Tavares.

On the season, Pospisil is averaging 12.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per contest, while the versatile Crawford averages 10.8 points, 9.5 boards, 3.0 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.0 blocks.

Conversely, the Lady Pirates are guard-oriented. Sophomore backcourt players Allahon Marbra (16.6 points, 4.2 steals) and Brianca Roberts (15.8 points, 4.1 assists, 3.1 steals) lead the way.

"We feel like if we limit turnovers and play good basketball every possession, we should be competitive," Pasco head coach Troy Moore said. "We don't know much about Nature Coast, so we're going in being prepared for everything."

These teams do have one thing in common. Neither has figured out how to solve Gulf, a daunting notion considering the winner likely gets the Lady Buccaneers in Tuesday's semifinals.

The Lady Sharks faced Gulf in early January at the Hernando High Holiday Classic and suffered their worst loss of the season, 69-43.

The Lady Pirates have lost to the Lady Bucs three times in 5A-8 action. They dropped the two regular-season meetings, 49-31 and 68-57, and Saturday's district tournament final, 58-47.

"They're just a great ballclub," Moore said of Gulf. "Coach (Mike) Quarto does a great job. What they do, they do well. If you're not mentally tough and ready to compete, they'll get up on you and put you away."

That concern, however, will wait for another day. First these two groups must focus on how to advance beyond this renewal of old acquaintances.

"Hopefully we'll box out well, get to 50/50 balls, loose balls when we can," Moore said. "We know we're going to give up points in the low post. We want to limit them by doing a solid job of boxing out."

Considering the dominance of Academy at the Lakes over 2A-8 competition, last week's district tournament went as well as could be expected for HCA.

On Thursday, the Lady Lions (12-10) pulled out a nail-biting semifinal against Citrus Park Christian, 41-40 in overtime, to earn the second regional berth in program history. The first was in 2008.

Kaitlyn Lowe (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Rebecca Maldonado (10 points, five rebounds, five steals) paced the team in that one.

Friday night, though, brought a championship game versus top-seeded Academy at the Lakes and a 79-29 defeat.

Factoring in that HCA dropped its two regular-season tilts with Academy at the Lakes by a combined 157-26, head coach Mike Drummond was actually encouraged by his Lady Lions' performance.

"We did some good things in that game," Drummond said. "When you consider that last time we played Academy at the Lakes we scored only six, to score almost 30, we feel pretty good about that.

"They're like a 5A school playing 2A. They're well-coached; they've got great athletes, great basketball players. So you have to take away any little victory."

Walker Memorial (19-0), despite its spotless mark, should be a comparatively easier opponent.

The 2A-7 champion Lady Eagles are in the midst of their finest season and last week captured their first district crown in 15 years since joining the Florida High School Athletic Association.

"We've been behind at halftime four times this year," Walker Memorial head coach William Farmer said. "We've been behind in the last two minutes twice. These kids don't know the meaning of the word quit."

The Lady Eagles like to play at an up-tempo pace. Senior Rachel Reid (10.0 points, 13.0 rebounds) is the team's starting center at 5-foot-8, so size is not an asset.

The guards, led by junior Kristelle Lagabon (13.5 points, 6.0 assists), have played well.

"We have to play to our strengths. Our strengths are quickness and speed, so we play to that," Farmer said. "Playing in the half court is not an ideal situation."

That confirms the rumblings that Drummond has heard about Walker Memorial, and he has had his girls practicing to stop a high-octane offense.

"We're just trying to get our defense down the floor," Drummond said. "I told the girls we don't want them to dictate the tempo of the game.

"The key is, can we get back and challenge plays when they do get rebounds? We've got to have all five girls down the floor."

The other challenge, Drummond said, will be keeping his crew lively and awake during the car ride down to Highlands County.

Regardless, with a roster full of upperclassmen who have stuck it out at the school when many others have transferred, Drummond is already satisfied with what the Lady Lions have accomplished.

"This is gravy, this is the fun time," Drummond said. "We can enjoy this because we worked really hard to get here. We want to savor every moment and keep it going."