Shooting woes leave Lakewood Ranch short against Winter Haven in Class 7A championship

LAKELAND -- LaDazhia Williams darted desperately out toward midcourt to set her hands on Christina Scott, stop the clock and send Winter Haven to the free throw line.

Then the center turned and trudged to the Lakewood Ranch bench. The junior had fouled out of the Class 7A championship Saturday and had to watch the final 1:31 as Winter Haven marched toward its victory.

Williams had worked hard. She scored more than a third of the Mustangs' points. She fought through a cramp in her left calf during the third quarter. She hoisted 11 shots to the rim, fighting through con

man-to-man defense.

Ranch's failings from outside the paint wore on her, the focal point of the Lakewood Ranch offense, and she couldn't do enough in the 44-28 loss to the Blue Devils in Lakeland.

"Both teams packed it in kind of tight," head coach Tina Hadley said. "We tried our best to try to loosen it up. We couldn't knock down jump shots."

Ranch (26-7) scored 26 of its 28 points either in the paint or at the free throw line. The Mustangs shot 28.2 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the free throw line, missed all four of their 3-point attempts and committed 17 turnovers.

Lakewood Ranch's defense became a point of pride during its first trip to the final four. In the final game of the season, offense kept Lakewood Ranch from making school history.

Williams opened the 7A state championship with a drop step from the right elbow and a quick spin to the rim. The junior, who is considered one of the 50 best players in the Class of 2017 by ESPN, opened her first trip to the state championship game with a smooth post move to give Lakewood Ranch its only lead of the game.

"Offensively, we just tried to pull the defense away from the basket, so that she could potentially get some isolation plays," Hadley said.

This began the worst of the offensive droughts that plagued the Mustangs at George Jenkins Arena in The Lakeland Center. Lakewood Ranch didn't score again until the final 15 seconds of the first quarter. After that, the Mustangs went another 6:15 without a basket.

The Mustangs missed seven consecutive shots after Williams' initial basket. When Kailyn Scully finished a transition layup during the final seconds of the opening period, it was to slice into an eight-point deficit.

Lakewood Ranch missed 10 more in a row after the guard's layup before she scored again during the last minute and a half of the second quarter. the Mustangs went into halftime trailing 19-10 after shooting 18.2 percent from the floor and 2-of-8 from the free throw line.

Williams and Scully were the only the only two Ranch players to score, and finished the game with 23 of Lakewood Ranch's 28 points.

"Three weeks ago I think we executed better and handled the pressure better," Williams said. "Tonight we just let our nerves get the best of us."

The Mustangs first met the Blue Devils on Jan. 29 in the final game of the regular season. Ranch fell behind by 17 during the first meeting before rallying to lose by one in St. Petersburg. Lakewood Ranch never had a stretch Saturday as bad as the one it started the first meeting with, but also never had one as good as the stretch it ended on.

Williams finished with 11 points and five rebounds of 4-of-11 shooting. Scully, one of the Mustangs' three senior starters, led the way with 12 points.

Sophomore small forward India Searls scored three points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Kyra Klarkowski scored the other two points and made three steals. Elise Spiller, Ranch's third senior guard, recorded two assists and two steals in her final game.

"I think it's amazing we made it this far," Scully said. "Second in the state is still a huge accomplishment and we still went out with a bang, I think."

David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter @DBWilson2.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Shooting woes leave Lakewood Ranch short against Winter Haven in Class 7A championship ."