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Sebring Stings Haines City

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Sebring and Haines City players fight for a loose ball during Thursday night’s regional quarterfinal game.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: February 9, 2008

HAINES CITY — After being upset in last Saturday's district finals, the Sebring girls basketball team made sure that didn't happen again, as Whitney Lee scored a team-high 14 points to lead the Blue Streaks to a 55-48 upset victory over District 9 champion Haines City in Thursday night's Class 4A regional quarterfinals.

Senior forward Whitney Wells added eight points — all in the second half — to go along with eight rebounds, as Sebring moves on to Tuesday's regional semifinal at district rival Booker.

"This is such a sweet win," Wells said. "Our team wanted this win so bad. We were all jumping around and screaming in the locker room because we were so happy.

"We felt so bad after losing to Booker in the district finals that we were determined not to let our season end tonight."

Booker, which upset Sebring 39-37 in overtime in last Saturday's District 10 finals in Sarasota, knocked off Lakeland Kathleen 55-52 in a regional quarterfinal on Thursday night to set up the rematch.

"We want Booker," Wells said. "We didn't play well against them in the district finals, and we want to give them a little payback."

Sebring, which improved to 19-8, came out focused and used its superior height to dominate the glass against the smaller, but very athletic Hornets (21-6).

"The loss to Booker was tough to take, but I think it actually helped us," Whitney Lee said. "We came out ready to go, our defense was solid, we rebounded well and were able to finish, which made a big difference."

Sebring's Chelsea Davis got things rolling by drilling a 3-pointer and scored five of her seven points to give the Blue Streaks a 10-5 lead heading into the second quarter.

Whitney Lee got hot from the outside and scored eight points, but Haines City center Marquis Lee poured in six of her game-high 25 points to keep the Hornets close.

Priscilla Adams, who finished with seven rebounds, came off the bench to score four of her six points to give Sebring a 23-16 lead at the half.

The Blue Streaks extended their lead in the opening minutes of the second half as Wells scored back-to-back inside buckets and Whitney Lee drained a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 30-17 advantage.

Haines City fought back and went on a run led by Marquis Lee, who scored on some incredible whirling dervish-type moves to trim the Hornets deficit to 39-31 heading into the final eight minutes.

"[Marquis] Lee is some kind of player," said Sebring coach Mike Lee. "We wanted to wear her down, but she still managed to get her share of points."

Sebring used a box-and-one defense on Marquis Lee, rotating three different players to cover the Hornet star the length of the court.

The pace of the game and the physical Blue Streak defense took its toll on Marquis Lee, who scored seven points in the period before fouling out with less than two minutes to play.

Haines City got as close as four points with 3:48 remaining, but Davis made a pair of free throws and a bucket by Brenita Grant gave the Blue Streaks a 49-41 lead.

Sebring went to its stall offense, ran the clock down and forced the Hornets to foul. The Blue Streaks converted enough free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

"I'm very proud of the effort and intensity we had tonight," said Mike Lee, Sebring's first-year coach. "We had three great days of practice and the girls came out and played hard and executed well."

Sebring now has a rematch with Booker firmly in its sights.

"We showed what we're about tonight," Wells said. "We need to play the same way against Booker to get some revenge for taking our district title."

The winner of Tuesday's semifinal, which tips off at 7 p.m., will play the winner between South Fort Myers and Cypress Lake in the regional finals.

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