HCA can't run with Walker Memorial

The Hernando Christian Academy Lady Lions knew they needed to stop undefeated Walker Memorial Academy’s running game heading into Thursday’s Class 2A, Region II quarterfinal.

Instead, the Lady Lions got caught up trying to run with the Lady Eagles and found themselves in a deep hole from which they were never able to recover, as Walker Memorial ran away with a 53-30 victory at Avon Park Middle School.

Walker Memorial (20-0) raced out to a 21-4 first-quarter lead and extended the margin to 32-10 at halftime over the visiting Lady Lions (12-11).

“We shot 16 percent in the first half,” said HCA Head Coach Mike Drummond. “I scouted them a little bit and I knew they were going to be a running team.

“I told (his players) all week long ‘We want to get them in a half-court game’ and the mistake we made in the first was we tried to run with them. We let them dictate the tempo and even though we did that, if we could have made some shots we would have been in the game.”

After the Lady Eagles scored the first three points of the third quarter, HCA’s Kaitlyn Lowe scored six straight points for the Lady Lions to cut the lead back under 20, and HCA outscored Walker Memorial 12-9 in the quarter.

The Lady Lions eclipsed the Lady Eagles’ lead to 15 midway through the fourth quarter, but were forced to take some chances defensively, allowing Walker Memorial to score the final eight points of the game.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” Drummond said. “In the second half we got them out of their game and out of their rhythm.

“ I told them we needed to slow it down and be deliberate on offense because they don’t like to slow it down, and if we could stop them from running they’d get frustrated, and I think we accomplished that in the third and fourth quarter. At the very end we had to gamble there a little bit.”

Lowe led the Lady Lions with 14 points, while Kelly Klukowski, Heather Drummond and Briana Hogan scored four points each.

Coach Drummond said the team’s graduating seniors would definitely be missed.

“I have four seniors on the team and they’re great girls. I hate to see it end like this for them. My four seniors, Heather Drummond, Rebecca Maldonado, Kaitlyn Lowe and Briana Hogan have been great. I loved coaching them all the way from sixth grade and I’m going to miss them next year.”