Kowboys top Streaks

Perhaps it was only fitting that, in a game that featured an exorbitant amount of errant shots, Osceola didn't attempt a single field goal over the final 2 minutes.

The way Sebring was shooting, it didn't much matter.

The Blue Streaks endured a 3 ½-minute scoring drought late in the fourth quarter, and Osceola made enough free throws down the stretch to pull out a 50-45 win in the sparsely-attended Class 5A-District 5 opener on Monday night at Jack Deedrick Gymnasium.

"We had some good looks," Sebring coach Mike Lee said, "and that's all you can ask for."

Sebring (9-13) split the regular-season series with Osceola (18-8) after claiming a hard-fought win over the Kowboys on Jan. 15, a triumph that, at the time, seemed to give the team a jolt of confidence heading into the final two weeks of the season. Using their new 2-3 defensive zone, the Blue Streaks then proceeded to lose three of their next four games and entered the postseason with plenty of uncertainty, on both sides of the floor.

Still, they had a chance to win Monday - until they scored only two points after Shannon Williams' layup with 3:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"We talked at the beginning of the game about competing and being able to look ourselves in the mirror afterward, and that we worked hard and tried and hustled," Lee said, "and I think we did that.

"We lost, it hurts, and it's supposed to. It's not what we want. But sometimes you play hard and do what you're supposed to do and still come out on the short end."

Sebring, the tournament fifth seed, created a sizeable lead after Madison Rose (14 points) sank three first-half 3-pointers and Williams crashed the boards and dominated the paint. But the Blue Streaks abandoned their inside game, instead opting for any available 3, and the decision proved costly.

Because more often than not, they missed.

Sebring shot just 33 percent from the field, including 27 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Osceola didn't fare much better - 34 percent. The teams combined to attempt a whopping 102 shots during the 32-minute game.

"Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't," Lee said.

That was particularly evident in the fourth quarter, when the Blue Streaks tied the game at 41 after Williams completed a three-point play in the paint with 4:43 left. Osceola reeled off six quick points, and after Williams again scored an easy basket, Sebring didn't record another point until Emmanice McCullors' bank shot with 11 seconds left.

Three-pointers. Uncontested jumpers. Putbacks near the rim. Free throws.

The Blue Streaks missed them all, while also committing eight more turnovers than Osceola.

But the Kowboys didn't create any separation, either. In fact, it wasn't until Maria Lopez sank two free throws with 16 seconds left that it was more than a two-possession game.

"We just couldn't capitalize," Lee said.

Sebring entered the game intent on stopping Sarah Dileanardo, who torched the Blue Streaks in prior matchups. Even with constant double teams and a rotating 2-3 zone that virtually negated the inside threat, Dileanardo still managed a game-high 22 points, including a demoralizing 3-pointer as time expired at the end of the third quarter that stretched Osceola's lead to six.

"Like good teams do, if their best player is taken out, somebody else has to step up," Lee said. "And as a coach, you're gambling."

In the final minute, Sebring had a lengthy possession in which it attempted three shots, two of which were 3-pointers, that didn't fall. Rose then attempted a floater in the lane that sailed long, and the Blue Streaks failed to take advantage of an Osceola miscue on the inbounds pass.

Lopez missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Williams drew a foul with 20 seconds left. But Williams missed the first free throw, and then the second attempt, too, which would have made it a two-point game.

Lopez then made two free throws on the other end to seal the win.

"Just a game of missed opportunities," Lee said.