Blue Streaks Wrangle Cowgirls, Pick Up Some Steam

With the district tournament one week away, the Sebring girls basketball is moving in the right direction if it hopes to make a postseason statement.

After falling to LaBelle by 12 points less than two weeks ago, the Blue Streaks showed improvement in all aspects of play in a 52-50 non-district over the Cowgirls in a nail-biter at Blue Streak gym.

Emmanice McCullors scored 16 points - nine in the fourth quarter alone - and Hannah Shoop had 15 points and 20 rebounds to lead Sebring, which trailed by as many as 16 in the second half before taking control and clinging to the much-needed win.

"We were finally on the right end of one," said Sebring coach Mike Lee, "This is the one we've been looking for."

The Streaks were down 23-14 at the half and started the third quarter by allowing the Cowgirls to score seven straight.

"We shot terribly in the first half, but I felt good because last time we played, they scored 23 in the first quarter," Lee said. "We started half-court pressing and chipping away at it."

Sebring stormed to the lead in the fourth, taking an eight-point advantage with 2:30 remaining.

"That's unfamiliar territory for us this year," Lee said. "They started full-court pressing and cut the lead to two."

LaBelle had the ball down two with 1.9 seconds left, but a 3-point attempt just missed as the buzzer sounded.

"The way things have been going this year," Lee said, "I thought it was in."

Shannon Williams added 10 points for the Streaks, who host Frostproof today (see Friday's Highlands Today for complete coverage) and travel to Land 'O Lakes on Friday.

"We played hard and everyone was all about team tonight," Lee said. "Everyone was in the moment.

"We've been at the wrong end of so many close games this year, but we kept our composure and pulled out the win."

BOYS BASKETBALL: McKeel 53, Lake Placid 50

LAKELAND - Avery Young scored 17 points and Andre Wilson added 13 more, but the Lake Placid boys basketball team was unable to overcome late turnovers and fell 53-50 to McKeel on Tuesday night.

The shorthanded Dragons were without Devontra Flemming and Anthony Gonzalez, who were both out with injury.

"We had seven players to start the night," said LP coach David Veley. "They packed it inside and played a 2-3 zone on us and we just didn't have the numbers."

Trevalier Sholtz added 10 points and Kirk Veley added seven more, but after Sholtz scored the first six LP points in the paint, McKeel's defense clamped down.

"They didn't let Trevalier touch the ball after he got going early," coach Veley said. "And we just couldn't get anything going because we didn't have the legs."

The Dragons are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they host Mulberry. They then take on Sonrise Christian on Monday before their district tournament, which begins Feb. 9.