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Preps

Barons ready to face CCC

ST. PETERSBURG -- With every early basket St. Petersburg Catholic poured on Fort Myers Dunbar, perhaps the Barons were trying to talk to the Clearwater Central Catholic players sitting courtside.

Just a little message that said, even with the No. 2 seed, the Barons are the defending champions and the district tournament is on their turf.

SPC and CCC won their semifinals Wednesday night, setting up a showdown in the final Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at SPC. But the Barons put on the more convincing show, playing a nearly flawless first half in a 67-32 win over Dunbar.

During the first 16 minutes against the Tigers, SPC outscored Dunbar 52-20. Of its last 31 trips down the floor, 25 led to points, and only three times did the Barons turn the ball over.

It was as dominating a half as a team could possibly play, and most of CCC's squad was there to see it, having dispatched Sarasota Cardinal Mooney 53-23 earlier.

"That's the kind of effort I've been trying to get them to do all season long," SPC coach Nick Vandewalle said. "We looked up, we made the extra pass, we were unselfish. We got in the passing lanes on defense and created some turnovers."

Senior Michelle Deeb was one of the primary catalysts for SPC (18-8), scoring all of her 14 points in the first half. Six came off tough rebounds inside. Teammate Michie Hooks added 13 in the half and a game-high 16.

During the season, SPC and Dunbar (14-13) were much more evenly matched, with the Barons winning by four and seven points. CCC's regular-season matchups with Cardinal Mooney were lopsided, and Thursday's ended the same way. But unlike the Barons, the top-seeded Marauders (20-6) took awhile to get revved up against the overmatched Cougars.

CCC led 13-12 after nine minutes but put together a 12-0 run to close out the first half. An 11-3 third quarter sealed matters, as Cardinal Mooney remained mired in a field-goal drought that lasted more than 19 minutes.

"We were a little flat coming out," CCC coach Gary Platt said. "It was pretty easy once we got started."

Tiffany Avril led all scorers with 15 points and eight other Marauders scored.

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