CR can't solve Tavares

By Joe Kornecki III

EUSTIS — The No. 3-seeded Crystal River Pirates girls basketball team put up a valiant effort, but their season ended Thursday night against second-seeded Tavares with a 51-40 loss in the District 5A-7 tournament semifinals.
Although the Pirates’ season ended, Crystal River posted its first winning record (11-9 overall) since the 2007-08 season.

“Cold shooting hurt us more than anything else,” Pirates head coach Jason Rodgers said. “We didn’t get to the free-throw line much, but the girls played great defense. The girls had a great season, and it was our first winning record in four seasons.”

In the first quarter, the Bulldogs (16-5) outscored the Pirates 14-7 and were led by Dakotah Dailey’s five points.
In the second quarter, the Pirates cut the lead to 14-12 after a Katelyn Hannigan basket with 7:10 remaining in the half.

Hannigan had 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field and added six rebounds.

However, Tavares would pull out to a six-point lead when Dailey fed guard Savannah Guenther for a basket. Antanisha Hardwick and Guenther combined for 12 of the Bulldogs’ 16 points in the second quarter.

Guenther had 10 points on the night.

A Pirates three-pointer by Jamie Jaster with 20 seconds left in the half cut the Tavares lead to single digits, but the Bulldogs had the advantage 30-21 at the half.

In the second half, the Pirates made a run. A Hannigan basket cut the Bulldog lead to seven at 30-23 with 7:40
remaining in the third. Then Jasmyne Eason’s scored four of her six points —one off of a Tavares turnover— in 12 seconds to bring the Pirates within three points of the lead at 30-27 with 6:11 remaining in the third.

The Bulldogs would then go on a 13-3 run to end the third quarter up 13 points. Kristin Williams had six of her 13 points in the third to lead the Bulldogs.

In the fourth, Crystal River would not quit on their season as they mounted yet another comeback try.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Megan Wells and Kierstan Croyle pulled the Pirates to within eight.

Two Wells free-throws pulled the Pirates to within six at 46-40 with 1:21 left. Wells had 12 points, went 6-for-6 at the line and had six rebounds.

The Bulldogs struggled at the stripe down the stretch as they missed 7-of-8 attempts to keep the Pirates in the game.

However, the Pirates couldn’t capitalize on their shots, and Hardwick and Williams sank their last four free throws for Tavares to cap the scoring on the night.

Tavares was 17-for-31 at the line while Crystal River went 8-for-9 on the night.