Poinciana Lady Eagles take district hoops for 1st time

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Poinciana Lady Eagles take district hoops for 1st time

Sports

Thursday, 11 February 2010 00:59

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
It was the biggest night in Poinciana High School basketball history — and head coach Jamerson Jones almost had to miss it.
Not to worry, he’ll be at the program’s next one tonight.
The Eagles claimed the school’s first district basketball title — girls or boys — with a 57-46 win in the District 4A-6 championship game Saturday against host Harmony.
Jones, dealing with a family health emergency, arrived at halftime, looked at the scoreboard and saw that his team, which had already beaten the Longhorns twice during the season, was trailing 30-23.
“It’s family first, you know how that goes,” Jones said. “I just told the girls to play their game in the second half, get back to our defensive press, and we could still get it done. Sometimes, my girls need to be hyped up.”
Senior Brittany Garrett, who scored all seven of her points in the second half and added 10 rebounds, said that getting behind early may have been the best thing to happen to the Eagles.
“We came out too excited, then tried to slow down,” she said. “It was very tough, but we worked as a team to come back and pulled through. Finally getting the first one for the school means a lot.”
The team will host a regional quarterfinal at the Mike Brizendine Gym tonight at 7 against 4A-5 runner-up Leesburg (18-9).
Poinciana (17-8) is one of three county teams in the playoffs. Harmony (15-10), as the runner-up, will travel to Ocala Vanguard (26-0), the 4A-5 winner, tonight.
Gateway (14-10), also in the regional playoffs for the first time, goes to 6A-5 winner Apopka after placing second in the 6A-6 tournament.
With PHS assistant Pam Reeves filling in for Jones, Saturday’s 4A-6 title game began as a duel between Harmony forward Marie Gilbert, who scored 13 of her 21 points in the first half, and Eagles point guard Gerri Navarro, who hit five three-pointers in that span on the way to 21 points.
Harmony led by seven at the half and scored the first four points of the third quarter to push the lead to 34-23.
Poinciana answered with a 16-3 run over the next four minutes to tie. It took the lead on a Navarro jump shot. The Eagles led 43-41 after three quarters.
Gilbert, who led Harmony with eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, scored five points to open the fourth period to put the Horns up, 46-45, but it was the last time Harmony would score. The Eagles scored 12 points in the final six minutes.
HHS Coach Steve Smith said his team played well through most of the game.
“We got outplayed a little in the second half. On defense we played well enough to win,” he said. “But, we had three girls come back from last year’s varsity. If I said back in November we’d win 15 games, nobody’d believe me.”
On the other side, Poinciana’s crew also was an unknown commodity after two-time county Player of the Year, point guard Yeshira Delgado, transferred.
Jones relied on a pair of freshmen, Navarro and forward Brandii Walker, who scored all of her 13 points Saturday in the second half, and sophomore center Kedesia Johnson (14 points, 11 rebounds Saturday) moved in from Massachusetts. The team meshed early, becoming an unfamiliar force to many opponents.
“The last four years we’d done well, we had great players come through who were here for a while,” Jones said. “This year’s group, I knew there was talent and potential, but nobody knew what to expect. I still don’t know walking into the gym what to expect some nights.”
Garrett, who played on PHS’ 25-4 team as a sophomore that went to the regionals as a district runner-up, said her Eagles career wasn’t complete without putting a trophy in the PHS case.
“I’ve been looking forward to this,” she said. “Finally winning makes this my best year.”
Leesburg comes to Kissimmee tonight after taking undefeated Vanguard to overtime. Jones said the Eagles will stay with what’s worked.
“We’re not going to change anything, we’ll still press, keep playing our game,” he said. “Everybody here is excited, it’s hard to imagine how many people are getting behind us now. It’s been great to finally see.”
Equally as great is the run of the Gateway Panthers, started the year 0-4.
Coach Steve Robertson said the Panthers, led by seniors Carla Garcia, Helen Collazo and Miriam Ruiz, didn’t get discouraged.
“They kept focus on what the overall goals were. I’m really proud of them,” he said.
GHS earned a regional berth with a 43-37 win over Port St. Lucie Centennial in Friday’s 6A-6 semifinals. Carla Garcia scored 13 points and Jovana Smith had 12.
The Panthers led host Vero Beach, a team that scorched them last month, until the fourth quarter of the title game Saturday when their shots stopped falling. Vero won, 38-34.
“We met Saturday and came up with a game plan, and the defense executed it perfectly, the girls really left it all out there and I couldn’t ask more,” Robertson said. “Just nothing fell for us in the fourth.”
Winners today play Tuesday in the regional semifinals.