Sophomore Emily Lockey poured in 18 of her game-high 29 points in the second quarter as St. Cloud (18-8) captured their third consecutive district title with a 71-33 win over Clermont East Ridge (12-11) Friday.
The win guaranteed a regional quarterfinal home game for the Bulldogs on Thursday at 7 p.m. The regional playoff brackets will be announced Monday.
Starting the game with four sophomore starters, the Bulldogs took control early, grabbing a 17-12 lead – despite missing five layups in the period.
“Not sure why, but the starting five seems to have trouble getting it together early in games. We moved the ball well, made the right passes and missed some east shots underneath,” Coach Chad Ansbaugh said.
But a few missed shots early would mean little as Lockey and her teammates would make sure the game would never be in question with a red-hot second quarter.
Leading by seven, Savannah Kroener turned a steal into a fast-break layup, foul and subsequent three-pointer as St. Cloud took its first double digit lead of the game at 24-14 at the 4:43 mark of the second.
From there, it was the Lockey Show. She made seven field goals in the quarter, including a pair of threes and two layups off of her own steals to dominate as the Bulldogs pulled ahead at the half, 41-20.
“Emily was feeling it,” Ansbaugh said. “But a lot of credit needs to go to our point guard (Danigzy Mantilla). She was driving the lane and forced defenders to collapse on her and then dished it out for Emily to get some good looks.”
Mantilla would then take over offensively in the third quarter. She made three quick buckets, including a three-pointer, to start the period and extend the lead to 28. Mantilla would finish the game with 16. Lockey would put an exclamation point on her night with a three-pointer at the beginning of the fourth.
Five Bulldogs combined to sink nine three-pointers. Haley Hunt led all East Ridge scorers with 18.
Although St. Cloud graduated three of its top four scorers from a season ago, including current Clemson player Eno Inyang (20.3 ppg), the efforts of his 2021-22 team has been a pleasant surprise to Ansbaugh.
“We graduated a lot of talented players last year and with so many young kids on the team, I felt if everything fell right, we could probably be a 12 or 13-win team. But these young ladies deserve a lot of credit. Many of them came up through our youth program and understand our culture and what is expected of them. We may not always have the most talent on the floor, but we will work hard and give maximum effort.”
As far as regionals, Ansbaugh said his team will be challenged. “It’s a tough region, with a lot of good teams,” the veteran coach said of the regional that most feature East River (18-1) and state powers Wekiva and Winter Haven.
