Lakewood Ranch topples Southeast in battle of girls hoops unbeatens
LAKEWOOD RANCH -- The Lakewood Ranch girls basketball team wanted to see how it could play without superstar LaDazhia Williams.
The answer was not too bad.
The 6-foot-3 junior had to sit out Wednesday night's game against Southeast with a sprained ankle in a battle of unbeaten state-ranked teams, but the host Mustangs fought off a sluggish start to win going away in a 68-57 victory.
"We needed to know that we can play without LaDazhia and they showed that tonight," Lakewood Ranch head coach Tina Hadley said. "When we add her to the mix, we're state championship potential. She missed one other game and will be back soon, maybe next game."
Without their tallest player, the Mustangs still won the battle of the boards 30-25, but more importantly, used a balanced offense with five players scoring in double-figures -- and went to man-to-man in the second half to turn it around.
Southeast (4-1) led 35-24 late in the second quarter before Lakewood Ranch (4-0) cut its deficit by scoring the last six points of the first half.
The Mustangs tied the score at 43 with 2:17 left in the third quarter on a put-back by Kailyn Scully and never trailed again. They finished the period with a 48-43 lead.
Lakewood Ranch opened the final period with a 3-pointer by Scully and a basket by Elise Spiller for a 53-43 lead. The closest Southeast could get the rest of the way was seven points.
"We started the game in a zone and I didn't feel we were rotating well enough, so we switched to man in the second half and that was the difference for us," Hadley said. "I told our girls this was our game to lose and we were the batter team. We can either go out there and win like we are supposed to or give it to them. We were not doing the things we had worked on in practice."
Indian Searls led Lakewood Ranch with 16 points and nine rebounds. Aleah Robinson added 14 points. Scully had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Spiller had 13 points. Diminutive guard Sarah Fazio had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Southeast struggled taking care of the ball in the second half, had five turnovers in the fourth period, and finished with 16 for game. The Noles closet game this season was an 18 point victory over Palm Harbor University, and last time out, defeated DeSoto County, 73-12.
"We've had three blowouts and they needed to fight in a close game, and now we will see what they are made of," Southeast head coach John Harder said. "They needed to cry in the locker room and come back tomorrow and I think they will. They didn't quit. We made a gallant effort at the end, but it was too little, too late."
Breyonna Reed led Southeast with 21 points and hauled in 11 rebounds. Shauntavia Green added 14 points, five assists and five steals. Marlin Valcin had nine points and 13 rebounds.
"We got into foul trouble and it took us out of synch in the second half," Harder said. "Their intensity picked up when that happened (our foul trouble) and they made some great shots. They are a very, very good team."
This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch topples Southeast in battle of girls hoops unbeatens."