By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Harmony’s disciplined half-court defense stymied Osceola for three quarters and the Lady Longhorns advanced to the Class 4A-2 girls basketball regional semifinal round  with a 47-36 win Thursday at the Harmony gym.

Harmony will visit Poinciana Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the regional semifinals. Poinciana was a 52-27 winner over Celebration, 13-12, at the Mike Brizendine gym Thursday.

The Lady Longhorns, 22-4, were led by Marie Gilbert (15 points) and Julia Ingler (10) as the team built a 21-point lead, 37-16, in the third quarter over Osceola, which finished the season 20-8.

Osceola made it interesting in the final minutes by going on a 14-4 run in the final period to cut the lead to nine, 43-34, before Rebekah Fitzpatrick (4) hit a pair of free throws and Ragen Dotson (8) scored on a layup in the last 30 seconds to wrap it up. Naomi James (4) also scored for HHS.

Both teams were cold from the field. Osceola scored only two points in the first quarter and didn’t land back-to-back baskets until late in the first half, after they trailed 25-7.

“I don’t have an explanation why we came out so cold for the first three quarters,” OHS Coach Barner Cooks said. “We missed our first four layups, and with a young team like we have, when we start cold like that it seems like we have a hard time hitting our shots for the rest of the game.”

Harmony Coach Paul Strauch saw his team miss more than a few open shots as well.

“We made a lot of youthful mistakes. We missed a lot of open layups; we seemed to rush our shots. It was ugly, no question about it,” he said. “Part of it could be that we haven’t played in a week, but that’s not an excuse. We had a lot of open shots, they just weren’t falling. Julia hit a couple of big 3s in the third quarter that got us going, it was a boost for us, but then we didn’t really keep it going.”

Strauch said his team executed well offensively and defensively, even if it didn’t always capitalize.

“I liked the effort, and we did a good job of running the offense and finding the open shot,” Strauch said. “Defensively, I thought we played pretty well.”

Osceola pressed late in the game and changed the momentum, but it was too far behind to catch up.

“When we switched defenses, we seemed to play better, with more energy, and we got a few shots to fall,” Cooks said. “Give credit to Harmony. They played good defense. It’s going to be a good game in the regionals (semifinal round) next Tuesday with them and Poinciana. I’ll be there, I want to see that one.”

Jenaye Johnson and Montana Bass each scored 10 for the Kowgirls.

Poinciana, 20-7, raced past Celebration Thursday as center Trallonie Tisdale (19) and Kadesia Johnson (14) led the way.

Poinciana played with a short bench, seven players, but Coach Jamerson Jones said that was no problem because the Lady Eagles put the game away early.

“It was a short game, so fouls weren’t a factor,” Jones said.

Guard Madjah Barnett is recuperating from an ankle sprain, Jones said, and he hopes to have her for the Harmony game Tuesday.

“This isn’t the time of year that you want to have a starter out,” he said.

Jones said his team is looking forward to the rematch with Harmony. The Lady Longhorns bopped Poinciana, 72-56, two weeks ago during the final week of the regular season.

“I could tell after three or four minutes of that game that we weren’t going to have a good night,” Jones said. “We didn’t play with any energy. It will come down to who makes the adjustments this time. Harmony is a talented team, they have some very good players, but I believe if we play the way we can play and stay out of foul trouble, that there isn’t a team in this region, or the state, that we can’t beat.”

Strauch said his team will have to step up its game to beat Poinciana again.

“They are a very talented team and they are going to come after us hard. We know that. That’s the way they play,” Strauch said.