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Danigzy Mantilla (23) and Emily Lockey (20), shown with the team in happier times after winning the district championship, led the St. Cloud Bulldogs Monday with 17 and 16 points respectively. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS
Tierra Coleman scored a game-high 23 points and her Wekiva Mustangs held off a furious fourth quarter rally to defeat St. Cloud, 66-58, in a 6A FHSAA Region 2 semifinal Monday at Coach Mac Court.
The loss marks the end of basketball season in Osceola County. Six boys and girls teams -- four girls' district champions -- qualified for the regional playoffs, but they produced one regional playoff win: the Lady Bulldogs' 58-27 win over New Smyrna Beach last week.
“Watching film and looking at scouting reports, we knew they were an extremely physical, fast and athletic team but we also knew they had a tendency to sometimes be a little wild and take some bad shots,” St. Cloud coach Chad Ansbaugh said. "They were just the opposite tonight, they moved the ball around well and hit the open player. On the other hand, we were the ones that looked a little undisciplined tonight, particularly in the first half.”
Wekiva, 18-10, moves on to play Horizon (19-6) in the regional final on Thursday with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
St. Cloud started the game ice cold, making just four of 13 shots in the opening stanza – falling behind 18-9. Wekiva built that lead to as many 21 in the second quarter, as turnovers and poor shooting continued to plague the Lady Bulldogs.
But thanks to a late 5-0 spurt -- followed by a desperation 3-point heave from half court by Vanessa Vohs that banked in at the buzzer -- St. Cloud was able to finish the half on an 8-2 run to cut the gap to 14 at intermission, 34-20.
After Wekiva opened the third quarter by extending the lead back to 19, senior Emily Lockey led another rally. Lockey scored six points in the quarter as the Lady Longhorns cut the gap to 10 at 48-38 after three periods.
The Mustangs opened the fourth quarter with a couple of quick buckets to extend the lead back to 14. But another St. Cloud senior, Danigzy Mantilla, would rally the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points in the quarter as St. Cloud fought back to get within six points on three different occasions.
But each time the gap closed, Wekiva was able to break the St. Cloud press and Coleman would end up with layups on the other end. With time running down, St. Cloud was forced to foul and Wekiva made eight free throws in the period – four by Coleman --- to build the lead back to double digits with 1:47 remaining.
Still, St. Cloud would show some fight. Mantilla scored three of her 12 in the final 90 seconds and Jaelyn Bonilla and Savannah Kroener hit threes down the stretch to cut the lead.
“Frankly, we just fell too far behind in this game,” Ansbaugh said. “I was really proud of the way we fought back but we had to expand way too much energy to do so. We just really ran out of gas.”
For the game, St. Cloud shot 38% (21-of-54) but was just 26% from beyond the arc (5-of-19). Wekiva was 50% from the floor (23-46) but had a 16-10 advantage in free throws made.
“Based on what we knew about them, we opened the game in a zone defense and we stayed with it way too long and that is 100% my fault,” Ansbaugh said. “When we went man and pressed them, we got some turnovers and forced them into mistakes. I should have went to that defense a lot earlier in the game, but again credit Wekiva – they played perhaps their best game of the season.”
Mantilla led St. Cloud with 17, Lockey had 16, Kroener added eight and Haley Collins had six and three blocks in her final game.
Departing senior starters Mantilla, Lockey, and Collins – along with senior reserves Jaelyn Bonilla, Dani Mann, Madelyn Baggett, and Kaisley Carswell -- finish the season with a 22-7 record. Over the last three years, that group went 63-18, won consecutive OBC titles and two district championships.
“This was really a fun group to coach,” Ansbaugh said of his seniors. “They weren’t the most athletic team, but they were a gritty bunch that worked hard and gave their all. The biggest thing about them was their loyalty. In day when coaches and players from other teams are whispering in your players’ ears to get them to transfer, this group stayed loyal to this team and this school. So many of them also played other sports and were involved in other school activities and more than the wins and more than the championships, I appreciated that most about them.”
