Class 4A: Coral Springs Charter Edges Atlantic, 53-50
Tue. February 19, 2013 at 11:16 p.m. | By Mike Cobb
Coral Springs Charter's Chelsie Hall (#10) and Morgan Smellie (#23) celebrate their vistory (Photo by Scott Wheeler | The Ledger)
By MIKE COBB
LEDGER CORRESPONDENT
LAKELAND | Emily Williams and Morgan Smellie led a fourth-quarter rally that saw Coral Springs Charter defeat Port Orange Atlantic, 53-50, in the Class 4A semifinals of the FHSAA girls state basketball tournament at The Lakeland Center Tuesday night.
Williams finished 24 points and Smellie 11. Coral Springs Charter (24-7) will play Jacksonville Ribault in the Class 4A state championship game Thursday at 4:35 p.m. Ribault beat Fort Myers Dunbar, 51-45, in the first 4A semifinal game Tuesday night.
“Emily Williams was big. She’s the heart and soul of this team,” Coral Springs Charter coach Ericka Haney said. “I can’t say enough about her. She stepped up big time.”
The Panthers trailed, 45-38, midway through the fourth quarter before Williams and Smellie scored the seven of the Panther’s next nine points to tie the game at 47. After a free throw by Atlantic’s Ronni Williams made it 48-47, Smellie and Williams them scored back-to-back baskets to give the Sharks a 51-48 lead they wouldn’t give up.
“We were down most of the whole game, but we knew the game wasn’t over,” Williams said. “Everyone stepped up and hit big-time shots.”
Perhaps none were bigger than a 3-pointer by Smellie that cut the Atlantic lead to 45-43.
“We practice that religiously every day,” said Smellie, who said she knew they were in the game after that shot. “I thought, ‘We’re back in it. Let’s keep our composure.’”
Atlantic coach George Butts said his plan with a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter was to shoot nothing but layups or free throws.
“We had a seven point lead, and we’re in the one-and-one,” he said. “I called a timeout and I told them we don’t need a basket. And the girls just got away from what we told them. We shot a three, we turned the ball over. All we had to do is do what we worked on, but we got away from that.”
Instead, Coral Springs’ defense created the turnovers.
Atlantic (23-7) was hampered in the second half when Destiny Woodard, who led Atlantic with 10 points in the first half, picked up her fourth personal foul with 7:45 left in the third quarter and Atlantic trailing 21-20. Ronni Williams, who led all scorers with 29, then scored 17 of Atlantic’s next 21 points to give the Sharks a 41-37 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“Ronni was a beast,” Butts said. “I told her, ‘You’ve got to do it.’ She just took over.”
Williams scored cutting the lead to 51-50, then had a layup with 16 seconds left that would have tied it, but it rolled off the rim.
Butts implied that he thought Williams may have been fouled, although he said he won’t blame the loss on the rests.
And Williams wouldn’t either.
“I got bumped, but I’m not going to hold my head down after that play,” she said. “This is a contact sport. I should’ve finished is what I should’ve done.”
Instead, Chelsie Hall’s two free throws made it 53-50 with 5.9 seconds left, and Atlantic’s last-ditch 3-pointer was no good.
ATLANTIC (50) – Alexis Snead 2-3 0-0 4, Ronni Williams 10-19 9-13 29, Destiny Williams 4-10 0-0 10, Dee Gillard 1-2 0-0 2, Ciera Gates 0-0 0-0 0, Jazmine Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Brittany Shaw 0-0 0-0 0, Shantazia Howard 2-13 1-1 5, Desiree Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-47 10-14 50.
CORAL SPRINGS (53) – Cici Wojcik 1-3 1-2 3, Chelsie Hall 2-8 4-5 9, Jade Wyatt 1-5 3-4 5, Emily Williams 9-18 4-8 24, Morgan Smellie 4-6 0-0 11, Lejha Smith 0-2 1-4 1, Jamie Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-42 13-23 53.
Atlantic 9 11 19 11 -- 50
Coral Springs 8 12 17 16 -- 53
3-point field goals: A 2-9 (Woodard 2-5, Gillard 0-1, Howard 0-3), CS 6-18 (Smellie 3-5, Williams 2-8, Hall 1-3, Wyatt 0-2). Technical Fouls: Wade (CS). Fouled out: Williams (A), Woodard (A), Wyatt (CS). Rebounds: A – 30 (Williams 13); CS 32 (Smith 10). Assists: A 9 (Woodard 4); CS 9 (Hall 3). Records: Atlantic 23-7; Coral Springs 25-7.
