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Clearwater breaks open close game

Fourth-quarter runs carry the Tornadoes past Winter Springs 63-53 and into the 5A title game.

By JOHN SCHWARB, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 28, 2002

LAKELAND -- In the end, Clearwater reverted to form. A close game must have simply not felt right.

Winter Springs gave the Tornadoes all they could handle through three quarters of the Class 5A state semifinal Wednesday night at the Lakeland Center, but Clearwater found a couple of its patented runs to beat the Bears 63-53.

Clearwater, No. 2 in the state, will play No. 1 South Broward at 7 p.m. Friday for the title. The two-time defending champion Bulldogs defeated Fort Walton Beach 49-37.

Winter Springs (28-5), a state finalist last year in 6A and champion in 1999 and 2000, proved a worthy foe for three quarters, playing Clearwater to a 38-38 tie.

But the Tornadoes (33-1) put together 9-2 and 10-2 runs in the fourth quarter to pull away and prolong a dominating season.

Since its lone loss to Bradenton Southeast on Jan. 5, Clearwater has won 15 consecutive games, all by double digits.

"We're just lucky to get the little run when we need it," Clearwater coach Tom Shaneyfelt said. "That's what these games amount to in the playoffs when you get two fairly even teams."

Senior Kasie Muchler started the fourth quarter with a drive down the left baseline to the basket. Winter Springs answered with a Tasa Seibert layup off a Jen Forst pass.

Muchler hit a 3-pointer from the left corner, and after a quick missed trey by the Bears, Rachel Hammond drilled a jumper. Forst missed at the other end and Clearwater stormed out on a break with Karen Braden converting a layup from a Dominique Redding feed.

And just like that, 1 minute, 47 seconds into the final quarter, Clearwater had equaled its largest lead of the game at 47-40.

Winter Springs got four of the points back on baskets by Seibert and Forst only to allow Clearwater to break out again.

Braden, who was a perfect seven of seven from the field, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 50-44.

One minute later, Braden fed Redding for a layup. The favor was returned to put Clearwater up 56-46.

"It seems like they dictated the whole fourth quarter," Winter Springs coach Kathy Register said. "They outplayed us, they went out there and outhustled us.

"We came out more timid than I expected us to."

Redding and Muchler, the last holdovers from Clearwater's 2000 state tournament team, had 17 and 16 points, respectively. Braden added 15, including Clearwater's first three baskets.

Winter Springs' big guns of Seibert (5 feet 11) and Forst (6-0) were held in check by a man-to-man defense. The pair combined for 44 points in the Bears' 66-48 regional final win against Daytona Beach Mainland, but managed just 23 on Wednesday.

From the outset, Clearwater wasn't apprehensive about playing in a final four game. The Tornadoes held a 21-14 lead after the first quarter.

"I think we got a good jump to the game, which really helped us," Shaneyfelt said. "We got over the jitters fast."

Clearwater cooled slightly in the second and third quarters, scoring eight and nine points in each until deciding not to play back-and-forth with Winter Springs.

"As long as it wasn't like that in the fourth quarter," Redding said.

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