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Strong first half enough for Citrus

LECANTO -- In its 52-39 win Tuesday night against Lecanto, Citrus showed why it has the experience and depth to be one of the area's best teams.

The visiting Hurricanes (7-0) jumped out to an early lead behind junior Alexsia Love, who scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter. Citrus shot better than 42 percent from the field to take a 31-13 halftime lead, causing Lecanto coach Ron Allan to shake his head.

"They played great in the first half," Allan said. "The way they played, I looked to assistant coach (Jack) Hall and said, 'I don't know what we can do against that.' "

Allan had reason to worry. His team had fallen apart in the third quarter in several games this season. But the Panthers (1-5) started the second half strong and got within 33-25 on a basket by senior Cortney Stewart. Stewart matched Citrus with nine points in the third quarter.

"This time, we fell apart at the beginning of the game, so we've switched halves," Allan said. "If we can fall apart in warmups, we'll be good. We'll have the whole game covered."

Citrus was outscored in the second half but warded off any Lecanto comeback.

"They made a nice run at us and they put some pressure on us and we made some mistakes and put them back in the ballgame," Citrus coach Bruce Nelson said. "We put the press back on again and we broke some loose and did what we're good at, which is running the court and fastbreaking."

Citrus point guard Katie Steelfox led the Hurricanes with 11 points, 6 steals and 4 assists. Steelfox said Citrus tired in the second half after playing Seven Rivers Christian on Monday.

"Running up and down the court two games in a row, that's hard to win," Steelfox said.

Nelson said his team continues to receive contributions from different players.

Although they scored just four points apiece, Brittney Doyle had 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals and Alycia LePage added 6 assists and 6 steals. Senior forward Nicole Parsons scored 10 points, and sophomore guard Jorlene White came off the bench to grab eight rebounds.

Stewart led Lecanto with 16 points. Kristen Dorn and Christy Kinchen each had five.

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