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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 1, 2002
It seems Lecanto just can't get enough of long road trips.
While the rest of the county's teams rest their legs for next week's district tournaments, the Panthers will be going south to compete in the Naples Dodge Shootout. "It's kind of an end-of-year bonus," Lecanto coach Ron Allan said.
"We'll see a couple team's we haven't seen, and it's an opportunity for the kids to get some exposure," he said. "Plus, we can try some new things down there and not have to worry about anybody finding anything out."
The other squads in the eight-team event are Miami American Heritage, Sarasota Riverview, Venice, Naples, Naples Barron Collier, Naples Lely and Fort Myers Cypress Lake.
Each squad will play two games against previously-selected opponents, and there will be no championship.
Lecanto will meet Naples at 8:45 tonight. The Panthers will finish against Cypress Lake at 2 p.m. Saturday.
"It's a shootout not a true tournament," Allan said. "We'll get to be around a bunch of other kids who are basketball oriented, and we'll see some other teams and just get out of our normal element."
Lecanto shouldn't be any less fresh for next week. The Panthers, who earned the third seed in the Class 4A, District 7 Tournament, don't play again until Thursday.
A GOOD LOSS? Maybe Bruce Nelson is just being positive.
Or maybe the coach thinks Tuesday's 57-55 overtime loss to Central could be good for his Citrus team.
"We didn't have a good game, but maybe it was time to get that bad game out of the way," Nelson said.
"Central drained some big 3s, and they deserved to win. Maybe the reason we played bad is that they played good."
NOT ALL BAD: Citrus' Meaggen Anderson recorded 24 points and 14 rebounds and Katie Steelfox scored 17 points in the loss to Central. It was the third straight game Anderson scored 20 or more points. A major benefactor of that has been Alycia LePage, who has averaged 8.5 assists in her past four starts.
MISSING ELEMENT: One factor in the Hurricanes' loss to the Bears may have been the absence of defensive player Myesha Hollis, who has been sidelined three games with an intestinal illness.
Hollis is Citrus' best defender and especially crucial on the press and in the fast break. Nelson is hoping the junior will be back for next week's 3A-7 tournament.
"We're not nearly as effective on the press without her," Nelson said.
"I think the whole team is getting better, and if we had her, we would probably be clobbering people left and right," the coach said. "I think Central would have been different because she would have gotten back to stop their fast break."