Mustangs fall in final

ST. PETERSBURG — The Lakewood Ranch High girls basketball ran into a roadblock in its Class 4A-District 10 championship game Friday night.

Her name was Jenae Wilson, and the six-foot St. Petersburg Lakewood center made the Mustangs feel like they needed to find a detour on their way to the basket.

The Jacksonville University-bound senior blocked a career-high 13 shots, altered a whole bunch more and grabbed 18 rebounds. Throw in 22 Lakewood Ranch turnovers, and it’s amazing the Mustangs were able to make the game close, dropping a 53-46 decision.

“I am only averaging about four blocks a game, but (Friday night) I was really intense and wanted to win the district championship,” Wilson said. “It was a little bit of both. I was looking to block shots, but they were also taking it to me. They tried to score inside, and I was ready when they went up for the shot.”

Lakewood Ranch (17-10) managed to hold onto a 12-9 lead after the first quarter thanks to its defense, which held the Lady Spartans (22-5) to 4 for 14 shooting and an offense that kept its turnovers to a minimum with four.

Things started to unravel for Lakewood Ranch in the second quarter when Lakewood picked up its defense and kept switching from a full court press to man to man. It took the Mustangs out of their comfort zone, and they committed 10 turnovers in the period.

Lakewood went on a 6-0 run in the last 1:30 of the second quarter to regain the lead at 23-22, but Gabriella Diaz-Granados had a put-back just before the buzzer to send the Mustangs into the locker room with a 24-23 lead.

“We had a lot of unnecessary turnovers, and we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Lakewood Ranch head coach Tina Hadley said. “Other than that, I thought my kids played hard and stuck to our game plan and played with tenacity. That is all I can ask. We don’t have a lot of depth and had two key players foul out (Alice Assenza and Mylon Shamble), which really hurt.”

Tiffany Waters, who led Lakewood Ranch with 17 points, nailed a trey in the opening minute of the second half, and the Mustangs took a 29-25 lead. But Lakewood forced four turnovers in the next three minutes and took the lead for good on a layup by Kayla Roberts that came off a turnover that put the Spartans ahead 35-34.

Lakewood led 48-39 with 3:01 left in the game. Lakewood Ranch had opportunities to close the gap, but the Mustangs struggled at the free throw line, converting only two of seven attempts in the fourth quarter. The closest they could get came when Waters drained a 3-pointer to cut their deficit to 51-46 with 20 seconds left.

Wilson led the Spartans with 12 points and scored eight points in the third quarter when Lakewood outscored Lakewood Ranch 19-11. Other top scorers for Lakewood Ranch were Diaz Granados (nine points), Shamble (eight) and Breanna Lindsey (five).

“(Wilson) is tall and long, and you can’t defend that, and she just had an on game (Friday night),” Hadley said. “The first time we played them we lost, but she didn’t have that many blocks. We were also getting a lot of non-calls (Friday night) because she was hitting us with the body.”

Lakewood Ranch will be on the road for its region quarterfinal game next Thursday against the District 9 champion, which will be determined tonight at Tampa Jefferson High.