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Leopards avenge district loss

BROOKSVILLE -- After Whitney Griffin hit a jump shot from the foul line to give Hernando a 12-point lead with 5 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in Friday's Class 3A, District 6 game against Williston, teammate Ellen Widboom broke into a smile.

When a Red Devils turnover led to a Bernice Mosby layup less than a minute later, Widboom's smile widened to an ear-to-ear grin.

And by the time Widboom's 3-pointer from the right side extended the Leopards' lead to 15 with 3:21 to play, the senior guard/forward had become downright giddy.

Clearly, this was a win to be savored.

Hernando held Williston to its lowest scoring total of the season while avenging its only district loss with a 49-35 victory at Imhoff Gymnasium.

"It felt really good," Widboom said. "I knew at the beginning we had the momentum and we were all hyped up. Everybody on the bench was cheering. I knew we were going to win."

Mosby scored 24 points, Widboom had eight and four other Hernando players scored as the Leopards made up for a 51-50 loss Nov. 30 at Williston.

Hernando limited Williston to 21 percent shooting from the field and held the Red Devils two points below their previous season low of 37 against Gainesville Buchholz.

"After losing by one at their place -- and I felt like we should have won that one -- (Friday) was a big game for us," Hernando coach Pete Lahey said.

The win all but assured the Leopards of the top seed in next month's district tournament.

Hernando (17-4, 9-1 district) and Williston (17-5, 9-1) completed district play with identical records. But the Leopards, with a better overall record, hold the edge in the fifth tiebreaker, which is overall winning percentage.

Hernando has games remaining against South Sumter and Pasco, which it has beaten. Williston plays Santa Fe and Hawthorne, which it has beaten, and East Side, which beat the Red Devils twice.

Each team will receive a first-round bye, but only the top seed will be able to avoid dangerous Citrus (11-6 through Thursday) in the semifinal round.

But that didn't matter to Williston coach Robert Patterson.

"I still feel like it's going to come down to the two of us, Williston and Hernando, for the district championship," he said.

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