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Buccaneers pull off comeback

Berkeley Prep rallies from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Tampa Prep.

By ANTHONY GAGLIANO
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 10, 2002

TAMPA -- Christina Gladysz converted a 3-point play with 26 seconds remaining to give Berkeley Prep a 62-60 lead and then knocked down a pair of free throws with 6 seconds left to wrap up a 64-61 victory against Tampa Prep on Wednesday.

"We were definitely trying to get her the ball," Berkeley Prep coach Alexa Manning said. "The whole key was to get the ball in Gladysz's hands."

With less than 3 minutes remaining, Caitlin Ansley buried a 3-pointer to give Berkeley Prep (12-4) its first lead, 57-54.

Gladysz's jumper from the wing put the Buccaneers up five, but Tampa Prep (13-5) answered with a 3-pointer from Amber Langston and Samantha Fleat's only basket of the game to tie the score at 59 with 44 seconds left.

That's when Gladysz came up big.

Gladysz led the Bucs with 28 points, but it didn't seem like it would matter in the first half. She scored eight of Berkeley Prep's 10 points in the first quarter, but the Bucs trailed by three when the quarter ended.

"We were just too frantic," Gladysz said. "We were a little scattered at the beginning and a little excited -- too excited."

Amber Langston drilled a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter to help push Tampa Prep to a 31-20 halftime lead.

The Terrapins dominated the boards in the first half. Center Morgan Mander hauled down 15 rebounds before the break and added seven points.

The second half started with the Terrapins threatening to blow the Buccaneers out of their own gym.

Aileen Pita's jumper gave Tampa Prep its biggest lead of the game, 35-21.

But Mander soon picked up her fourth foul and was forced to sit. The Buccaneers took advantage, going on a 17-6 run led by Kayla Mora.

"We definitely wanted to take advantage of that every time they sent in a sub," Manning said of Mander's foul trouble. "We wanted to go ahead and get the ball (inside) and we were able to take advantage of that."

Berkeley Prep repeatedly turned to Mora, who scored 13 points during the run, finishing with 21, including a 3-point play that tied the score at 41.

Many of Mora's buckets came on second and third opportunities.

But the Buccaneers still trailed, 48-44, at the end of three quarters after Langston hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the third.

The two sides were tied at 54 until Gladysz took over in the first of three meetings between the two rivals.

"Gladysz is not a flashy shooter," Manning said. "She does a lot of things nice and quiet, so she doesn't get all the attention that she definitely deserves.

"We don't ever know Gladysz's outcome until the end of the game when we see in the book that she just really had a great game."

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