By Ken Jackson

Sports Writer

Osceola County’s girls basketball teams can feel good about themselves going into the 2011 portion of the season after solid performances in holiday tournaments this week.

Poinciana lost in the first-place Gold bracket game of the Dr. Phillips Holiday Invitational, but not before winning its first 12 games of the season.

The Eagles (12-1) began with a blowout win Monday over Fort Lauderdale Boyd Anderson, and then defeated Apopka, 45-42 in Tuesday’s semifinal. Poinciana held a small lead throughout the fourth quarter, and held on, matching every Blue Darters rally.

“Apopka beat us pretty badly in this tournament last year, so it’s good to see how much we’ve grown in just a year,” PHS Coach Jamerson Jones said. “It was the good kind of scrap we needed, exactly what I was looking for when I made our schedule.”

Wednesday wasn’t as kind. The Eagles lost to Bishop Moore, a former district foe, 60-54. Jones said the Eagles had the chance to win it.

“We missed free throws and turned it over, we just didn’t execute down the stretch,” he said. “The game showed us what we have to work on, and we’re going to watch that tape. We’ll see how the girls come back from adversity.”

Gateway and Osceola played in the Midnight Basketball Invitational at Jones High School, and they played each other Tuesday after losses on Monday.

Gateway fell to 6A power Edgewater, 74-25, and Osceola fell to Port Orange Atlantic, 55-51.

The Panthers (4-7) got the best of the Kowgirls (9-8), 56-55. Jovana Smith banked in a shot with four seconds left.

In Wednesday’s fifth-place game, Gateway held on to win a 24-23 defensive slugfest against Oak Ridge. Amanda Lopez scored nine points to lead the Panthers, but it was Tiffany Charneco’s mid-range jumper that gave GHS the lead with a minute left. Then they relied on their defense.

“Playing Osceola is a game our kids always get up for,” GHS Coach Steve Robertson said. “Against Oak Ridge, we forced a turnover on their last trip and didn’t let them get a shot off. It was the ugliest score we’ll see all year, but we won. I knew we’d take some lumps early this season, but now we can go into our district games on a positive note.”

Osceola regrouped to take the seventh place game, 61-19 over George Jenkins. Coach Barner Cooks said the loss to Atlantic derailed his team mentally.

“The girls built them up as this team to beat and then we let it get away, we shot 1-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter, there’s your game right there,” he said. “They were disappointed, but I still think we had a pretty good tournament. I think we’ll finish the season well.”

St. Cloud (4-10) hosted its own Holiday Invitational, and beat Lighthouse Christian 51-20 on Tuesday. The Bulldogs got 21 points from Nohemy Aguila in Wednesday’s final against Astronaut, but lost, 51-41.

Celebration (10-5) went 2-1 in the Madison County Christmas Tournament. Julianna Milan averaged 17 points per game in the event.

Harmony (8-1) did not play in a tournament but may be the hottest team of the county. Their 41-28 win over St. Cloud on Dec. 17 was their sixth straight.