Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Preps

Better, but not good enough

CLASS A: IRC plays Bradenton Christian much tougher than last time around, but it's the Panthers who will move on.

By BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 26, 2003

BRADENTON -- Indian Rocks Christian coach Phil Farver wanted an asterisk by the 36-point loss his team suffered earlier this month to Bradenton Christian in the Bay Conference championship game.

In that contest, the Golden Eagles' two best players, Mo and Gabby Gattuso, were coming back from the flu.

"There was something like 41 students out sick at the time," Farver said. "I seriously considered canceling that game. I knew if we were healthy, we could play with (Bradenton Christian)."

Indian Rocks Christian not only played on Tuesday, it darn near won.

Trailing by 13 to start the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles outscored the host Panthers 18-10 down the stretch.

But it wasn't enough to avoid a 54-49 defeat.

"We started cold in the first quarter, then played even with them," Farver said.

"The third and fourth quarter is what we wanted. Who knows? A couple of little things happen in the last two minutes and we could be walking out of here with a win."

The biggest thing that happened to Indian Rocks Christian (23-9) was losing its leading scorer, Gabby Gattuso (24 points), who fouled out with less than three minutes to go.

"It hurts to have your best player foul out, but we've played and won without her before," Farver said. "We just didn't get it done this time.

"I'll take it, though. We went from getting beat by 36 to getting beat by five. It's a good way to build for the future, which is pretty bright for us. We don't lose anybody."

Gabby Gattuso's sister, Mo, added 15 points for the Golden Eagles.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright