DELAY OF GAME

LAKEWOOD RANCH — The anticipation her players exhibited surrounding the start of the district championship game was exactly what Lakewood Ranch girls basketball coach Tina Hadley expected out of her players.

But after a one-hour delay because of the late arrival of the referees, the Lady Mustangs lost some momentum.

After pulling within a point, Lakewood Ranch watched top-seeded St. Petersburg Lakewood go on a 6-0 run to close out the first half. The Lady Spartans (23-4) went on to control the second half on their way to a 54-39 victory over the second-seeded Lady Mustangs (19-7) in the Class 4A-District 10 championship game Feb. 5, denying Lakewood Ranch its first district title.

“They were pretty psyched up,” Hadley said. “I think the hour did put a little wrinkle in things. You get hyped up for the game and then you have to relax, and then you get hyped up again. But that’s no excuse.

“We just had entirely too many turnovers, and they had entirely too many offensive rebounds,” she said. “Turnovers, and we were out-rebounded: That’s what cost us the game.”

As the district runner-up, Lakewood Ranch will travel to Tampa Jefferson, the winner in District 9, at 7 p.m., tonight, to face the Lady Dragons in a regional quarterfinal. The two teams met last year when Jefferson ended Lakewood Ranch’s playoff run with a 62-28 drubbing in the regional quarterfinals.

“I just have a preference that we go out and play well against whoever we play,” Hadley said.

St. Petersburg Lakewood took an early 6-0 lead before Lakewood Ranch’s Kasey Connelly hit a bucket underneath to put the Lady Mustangs onto the scoreboard. Trailing 14-9 to start the second quarter, the Lady Mustangs outscored the Lady Spartans 9-5, after junior Gabby Diaz-Granados hit a three-pointer from just outside the arc to pull Lakewood Ranch within a point.

But the momentum was short-lived as St. Petersburg Lakewood went on a 24-8 run to take a 43-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Mustangs struggled to control the ball — making uncharacteristic turnovers and allowing the Lady Spartans to dominate the offensive boards.

Lakewood Ranch also struggled to defend Taye’lor Trotter who scored a team-high 20 points, 18 of which came in the first half.

“When you turn the ball over and give them more opportunities to shoot, you can’t expect to come up with a better score at the end,” senior Tiffany Waters said.

“We cannot let another team get two and three shots at the basket,” Hadley said. “We were just out-rebounded. They were a taller, more athletic team, but our goal was to try to keep them off of the boards as much as possible.”

Darby Toth finished with 10 points and Loni Shamble added nine points to lead the way for the Lady Mustangs.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].