Gateway wins road playoff game, also heads to Tuesday’s regional semifinal
St. Cloud used stifling defense to limit East River to 10 first-half points, cruising to an easy 52-33 win in a Class 6A Region 2 quarterfinal playoff game Thursday at Coach Mac Court.
The win, which lifted the Bulldogs to 19-8 on the season, propelled them into a Tuesday night semifinal at Lake Gibson (18-8), a 71-44 winner over Edgewater.
Also Tuesday, Gateway (21-7) kept its season alive with a 59-31 win over Lake Weir in Class 5A, and also gets a Tuesday semifinal date.
East River came into the contest with an 18-2 record and was averaging 56 points per game, but Coach Chad Ansbaugh’s charges held leading scorer Kamryn Bullock to just six points.
“Super proud of our kids tonight, East River has a really good team but we came in with a good game plan and made them work for their shots,” Ansbaugh said. “We knew the key was to keep (Bullock) from getting hot. She hit a three right before half, but other than that we managed to contain her for the game.”
While the Bulldog defense was keeping the East River offense in check, St. Cloud shooters hit six three-pointers in the first half as they built leads of 14-4 after one period and 28-10 at the half. Jaclyn Bonilla led the way with six first half points; while Haley Collins, Kennedy Johnson and Danigzy Mantilla had five points in a balanced attack.
Nicole Hollowell tried to spur a Falcons comeback with a 10-point third quarter, but Mantilla countered with five points and Emily Lockey hit a three to push the lead back to 17, 38-21. Mantilla, Lockey and Bonilla all hit three-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs kept the Falcons at bay.
Lockey, who scored 29 points St. Cloud’s 72-33 win over East Ridge in the district championship game, scored 10 points on just six shots but also had 13 rebounds and two steals.
“She’s an emerging talent,” Ansbaugh said his sophomore who leads the Bulldogs with 15.5 points per game. “She works so hard at her game.”
But balance was the key to St. Cloud’s win. In addition to Lockey, Mantilla had 13, Haley Collins had 10, and Bonilla had nine. East River’s Hollowell led all scorers with 17 and 11 rebounds.
Tuesday’s game with Lake Gibson will be the first time the schools have met this year.
“What I do know about Lake Gibson is that they are a really good team with a couple of wins over Winter Haven this season. When you get to this time of year, everyone you run into is going to be good.”
In other girls’ high school regional action, number six seeded Gateway (21-7) kept its season alive with a 59-31 win over third-seeded Lake Weir.
“We started out slow, but we made some adjustments and caught fire in the second quarter,” Panthers coach Justin Marino said. “Over the next two quarters we outscored them 43-16 and were able to cruise to the win.”
For the contest, Vanessa Diaz led Gateway with 28 points and Malayna Stephenson added 14. The win put the Panthers in a Class 5A, Region 2 semifinal at Wesley Chapel (18-10).
