Harmony is headed back to the playoffs for the first time since playing for the 2014 state championship after winning the District 7A-5 title Friday night in come-from-behind fashion.
The Longhorns (16-4) trailed Osceola (11-13) 23-17 at the half before tying the score at 30-30 going to the fourth quarter. They pulled ahead in the final eight minutes and used a 6-2 run down the stretch to claim a 43-37 victory, good enough for another title and the right to host a Region 2 quarterfinal game on Thursday. The brackets will be announced this week.
The news wasn't as good for St. Cloud missing key starters. They couldn't overcome 30 points combined from Lake Gibson's Jamila Ray and Taniya Brown, and the Braves (13-10) won the District 6A-7 championship game, 47-38 at St. Cloud.
The Lady Bulldogs were without four key contributors because of injury and illness, including leading scorer Emily Lockey – a 14.7 points-per-game scorer – who missed the game with an illness and Danzy Mantilla—a 7.5 ppg player – did not play while in concussion protocol. In addition, center Haley Collins played the entire game on a severely sprained ankle she suffered last week.
“Sometimes, the scoreboard ruins sports,” Coach Chad Ansbaugh said. “It doesn’t matter who was here and who we were missing, I will take the effort we got tonight in every game. Haley (Collins) could barely stand and she fought like crazy tonight as did the rest of the team.”
St. Cloud, who came into the district tournament as the top seed, will most likely grab the top at-large spot in next week’s regional quarterfinals – where they most likely face Lake Gibson in a rematch as the Braves are expected to be the lowest seeded district champion. If those pairings hold up, it would become a rubber match between the two schools as the Lady Bulldogs defeated Lake Gibson on the road, 63-50, in the season opener.
Lake Gibson would go on a 7-0 run to start the second period to pull ahead 16-9. They would never trail the rest of the way. Brown scored eight points in the quarter and only late baskets by Collins and Adrianna Viera kept St. Cloud within four at the half, 21-17. It was all Lake Gibson in the third quarter, as Ray scored seven and Samari Wilson added six in a 19-point quarter that saw the Braves jump out to a 40-27 lead.
“We have dominated third quarters for most of the season and tonight we just weren’t very good, and that’s on me,” Ansbaugh said. St. Cloud used an 11-4 run in the fourth to fight back to 44-38 and would have possession of the ball with 2:24 remaining. But consecutive Bulldogs turnovers and baskets by Brown and Ray kept St. Cloud from getting any closer.
For the game, Viera led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points, Savannah Kroener chipped in 10.
“We like to take at least 30 three-point shots in game, so we reached that goal,” Ansbaugh said. “But we also like to make at least 11 or 12 of those. Unfortunately they weren’t falling tonight or it could have been a different story.”
With the loss, St. Cloud was denied a fifth consecutive district crown and their 11th overall. Still Ansbaugh refused to use the missing players as an excuse. “We have had 17 different starting lineups this year and we always view it with a ‘next man up’ mentality. Missing those players did not cost us the game, turnovers and cold shooting did. We will regroup and get ready for regionals.”
