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Preps

Tornadoes in a breeze

CLASS 5A: Naples doesn't provide much in the way of competition for the Clearwater juggernaut.

By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 26, 2003

CLEARWATER -- Clearwater coach Tom Shaneyfelt respects the work Dave Walker has done in his 24 years of coaching, admires the way he turned a 6-17 team into a regional semifinalist this year, and thinks his team is headed in the right direction.

And that's all, really, that Shaneyfelt had to say about his team's 75-31 win over Walker's Naples team Tuesday night in the semifinals.

The Tornadoes (28-4) are again poised to make the state final four with the win, a place they have been five times the past seven seasons. In their way will be rival Seminole, a winner over Naples Gulf Coast and Saturday's region championship opponent.

"It's close for everyone," Shaneyfelt said. "At least someone from Pinellas County will be going."

Collier County wasn't so lucky, and even less so Naples. The Golden Eagles (21-11) were dominated from the start, and made just two field goals all game that weren't 3-pointers.

Trailing 14-9, they missed 15 of 16 shots to end the first quarter and start the second, and Clearwater parlayed that into a 27-5 run ... or 40-7 ... or 46-8.

Anyway you wanted to look at it, it was ugly.

"They are just a much better team than us," said Walker. "They are big, they are strong, they are fast, they are coached well, they are good shooters. You name it."

Some of the Golden Eagles, a younger team than Clearwater, nudged each other and giggled as Tennessee Dominique Redding was introduced, and seemed intimidated from tip-off. Redding didn't have a great game, but scored 28 points and blocked 7 shots.

She had lots of help. Shaneyfelt praised the defensive efforts of Nicole Ryan, who had six points, and the Tornadoes also got 11 points from Karen Braden and 8 from Karley Counts.

"You can't just concentrate on Dominique because they have so many other questions to answer out there," Walker said. "They have kids coming off the bench that if you leave them open they will knock down their shots. That is just a great team."

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