Gators sitting pretty

Land O'Lakes enters the weekend with the county's best overall record at 18-3.

With a win at Central (13-6) tonight, the Gators can finish the season with the satisfaction of having avenged all of their losses.

"This is another revenge game," coach Greg Robinson said. "We lost to Mitchell, then beat them the second time around. We lost to Ridgewood and came back to split that series, too."

The Bears (13-6) are similar to the Gators, relying on quick guards and an up-tempo offense.

But one edge for Land O'Lakes might be post player Alison Foster, who exploded for 16 points and 21 rebounds in a win over Zephyrhills on Tuesday.

The Gators got a double double-double in that game.

Roshaunda Washington scored 19 points and and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Bulldogs.

Land O'Lakes finished its Sunshine Athletic Conference schedule at 14-2, leaving it to watch Ridgewood (19-5, 12-1) finish out three SAC games.

The Rams play tonight at Wesley Chapel, Tuesday at Pasco and Thursday at home vs. Zephyrhills.

All three opponents are below .500, but, should the Rams lose any of the three, they'd share the conference crown with the Gators.

Ridgewood won't be taking the lesser opponents lightly.

"Pasco took Land O"Lakes to overtime, so they're very capable of beating us," coach Gary Zimmerman said.

"We've got to take care of everybody, but this was one of our goals we set for the season and we haven't gotten it done yet."

The Rams, who have clinched the top seed and a first-round bye in the Class 4A, District 8 tournament, are riding a four-game winning streak, powered by three straight 20-point outings from leading scorer Crystal Ayers.

Ayers has been ruthlessly efficient, going 10-for-15 from the floor against River Ridge, 8-of-12 against Gulf and 9-for-13 against Hudson to shoot 67.5 percent over the three-game surge.

SLOW BUT STEADY: Wesley Chapel, winless a year ago, picked up its third win Friday against Gulf, which has fallen to 0-19.

The Wildcats (3-17) close the regular season one week from today at River Ridge, the same school that gave Wesley Chapel its first-ever win in November.

One recent spark for the Wildcats has been freshman forward Elizabeth Cate.

Cate was promoted to the starting lineup after the holiday break and scored in double digits in back-to-back games last week against Mulberry and Gulf.

ALSO: Hudson won three games last week, beating River Ridge, Springstead and Zephyrhills, then beat Wesley Chapel om Tuesday to climb back to .500 at 9-9 before losing to Ridgewood a day later. ... Pasco beat Zephyrhills last week to split their regular-season series, and if the Pirates were able to win at Mulberry on Thursday night, they'll get another shot at their "9-Mile" rivals in 11 days in the district semifinals, where a regional playoff berth will be on the line. "The girls were up for that game, and they'll be up when we play them again," coach Tony Vasquez said. "They all know what's on the line."

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