NO HOLLYWOOD ENDING

LAKELAND — Accompanied by two of his most seasoned players, Jim Van Til walked into the interview room at The Lakeland Center and cut right to the point.

“We got beat,” said Bradenton Christian’s venerable girls basketball coach, “by a team that played better than we did (Wednesday).”

Such was the story of the Panthers’ first trip to the Class 1A girls state basketball semifinals in five years. The run ended Wednesday morning at with a 77-52 loss to Hollywood Christian, a team that, as Van Til said, was better in every facet of the game.

The Eagles (28-4) grabbed more rebounds, forced more turnovers and sported more weapons than the Panthers (27-4) and will meet Gainesville Rock at noon today for the state title.

BCS heads home satisfied with its season, though disappointed with the ending.

“We played hard, and we didn’t give up,” Van Til said. “That’s my major concern. These are all homegrown kids — some of them have been here since kindergarten. So I’m proud of them.”

Hollywood Christian rolled into the semifinals having allowed 49 points total in its three regional playoff games, but BCS hung with the Eagles early, with Maria DeKuiper’s basket late in the first quarter cutting the Panthers’ deficit to 15-10.

DeKuiper scored again 12 seconds into the second quarter, making the score 15-12.

BCS, however, never got that close again.

The Eagles’ swarming defense totaled 16 steals and forced 23 turnovers, limiting BCS to just 14 shots in the first half. Offensively, they intermingled the inside play of 6-foot guard Rebecca Lyttle with the hot perimeter shooting of Sarah Kelton and Ariah Osceola and closed the half on a 13-4 run.

Lyttle finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Kelton and Osceola went a combined 7 for 16 on 3-point attempts.

“You can’t help too much inside — you almost have to let them have the layup because they’re better shooting from 3,” Van Til said. “You have to kind of stay with (Osceola) and (Kelton) or otherwise, you’re in trouble. That combination caused a problem for us.”

The Panthers’ biggest force was DeKuiper, a junior forward who poured in a game-high 24 points — 11 more than Miami Northwest Christian scored against the Eagles in last weekend’s regional final.

She also had a game-high nine rebounds.

“I think they just got in our heads a little bit,” DeKuiper said. “Some of it was the pressure, some of it was the environment. ... We just kind of lost it there.

“Last week, we came back after 14 points down, so we knew we could do it. We just didn’t go out and do it.”

The Eagles wouldn’t allow it. Led by Osceola (21 points) and Kelton (11), Hollywood Christian shot better than 45 percent from the field, reaching the state final after losing in the semifinals the past two years.

“I think once we settled down, kind of got the jitters out, I think they really relaxed and started to play basketball,” Eagles coach Carlos Adamson said. “They kind of got the monkey off their back — they’ve been here two years in a row and haven’t gotten past this point. So I think the monkey’s off now, and they can relax and just play basketball.”

Senior Liz Capps had 13 points, and classmate Kelly Moss added two points and four rebounds. Sophomore guard Rachel Brown had seven rebounds.

Neither Capps nor Moss will be back next year. But the other Panthers will, and Capps is confident they will build off a season that included district and regional titles, and the program’s first trip to the semifinals since 2005.

“There’s a lot of young kids on the team,” Capps said. “We accomplished a lot this year. ... They’re going to have a good season (next year).”