Bulldogs hold off Blue Streaks

DeSoto used balanced scoring, led by Christina Taylor's team-high 11 points, and held off a late rally to defeat Sebring by a score of 43-38 in girls basketball on Tuesday night.

The non-district contest was the first game for the Blue Streaks coming off the holiday break.

"It was pretty obvious this was our first game back after the break for the holidays," said Sebring coach Mike Lee. "We didn't play with a lot of intensity or fire and we can't afford to do that. We decided to start playing with some emotion midway through the third quarter when we were 14 points behind and made a game of it down the stretch.

"When we come out and play hard, we're pretty good, but when we don't play with that fire and intensity, we're an average team."

The win improved the Bulldogs to 10-8 on the season, while the loss dropped the Blue Streaks to 7-6.

"We can't use the holiday break for an excuse because this was DeSoto's first game back and they played hard," Lee said. "We had a little talk in the third quarter and that seemed to spark us, but we have to come out ready to play hard every game."

Both teams were cold from the floor in the first quarter, but DeSoto's Florence Hatcher scored four of her eight points to give the Bulldogs a tenuous 10-8 lead heading into the second period.

Sebring continued to have a frigid night shooting, but DeSoto's Gabi Edelmann scored five of her nine points, including a 3-pointer, and Taylor added four points as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 24-14 at the half.

"We have a chance to win every time we step on the floor," said the Blue Streak coach. "We're not rookies anymore and we have to handle the ball better, execute our offense and make better decisions in transition."

Sebring made a run in the third quarter as Emmanice McCullors scored six of her 10 points and forward Shannon Williams scored four of her game-high 14 points, but DeSoto answered with a run of its own to take a commanding 37-25 lead into the final eight minutes.

Sebring's Jerica Moore got hot from outside and buried a 3-pointer from the right wing and McCullors and Zykeria Dawkins penetrated for easy baskets to bring the Blue Streaks within 41-36 with 13.9 seconds remaining in the game.

Sebring was forced to foul and DeSoto's Charelle Wilson calmly made both free throws to extend the Bulldogs lead.

Sebring's Williams, who pulled down a team-high 13 boards, scored on a rebound basket to trim the deficit to five points.

But DeSoto was able to throw the ball in and time expired on the Blue Streaks' rally.

"We made a nice run in the second half," said Lee. "But we dug ourselves a big hole and just couldn't quite catch up."

Sebring is back in action on Friday with a Class 5A-District 5 home game against Liberty, a team the Blue Streaks have already defeated.

"We're getting into the meat of our district schedule and even though we beat Liberty the first time, it doesn't mean anything," said Lee. "We have to tighten up in a lot of areas and cut down on our mistakes.

"We're in a much tougher district this year, but if we play with intensity and emotion, we have a chance to win most of our games."