Local teams played in a variety of holiday tournaments, some with good results, some disappointing.
By ROD GIPSON
Published January 9, 2004
CARROLLWOOD - With basketball tournaments taking center stage the past few weeks, area boys and girls teams saw plenty of action against local and out-of-state foes.
With mixed results, local teams faced off at a variety of events including the Ram Rotary Classic, the Hooters Holiday Shootout, the Bay Classic Christmas Tournament, the Chamberlain Holiday Tournament, the Lady Shark Holiday Classic, the City of Tampa Championships, the Beef O'Brady's Classic and the Leto Holiday Tournament.
The Leto girls, in fact, had a standout holiday, playing well in their tournament and at the Lady Shark Holiday Classic. With Yarenis Blanco, Yvonne Battle, Sheena Key and Sandy Stout all playing well, the Falcons advanced to their own tournament final and the consolation final at the Riverview event.
Trailing Sarasota Riverview by 18 points in the Leto tournament championship game, the Falcons went on a 7-0 second half run to close the margin to 44-33. But Sarasota Riverview would pull away and only allow Leto to get as close as 14 points the rest of the game.
Still, Blanco finished the game with 21 points, Battle scored 13 points and Key added seven points. Battle and Key were named to the All-Tournament team.
In the Lady Shark consolation game, Leto rode a career-high 40-point performance from Blanco to a 70-49 win against Sickles. Battle added 11 points and Stout scored 10 points.
With the regular season back in full swing, Alonso plays at Leto Monday. In other games Monday, Armwood is at Freedom, Chamberlain hosts Wharton, Freedom is at Blake, Jefferson is at Armwood and Sickles is at Gaither.
BOYS BASKETBALL: The City of Tampa Championships was one of the events played early on during the holiday break. Unfortunately for numerous local teams, their departures came early as well. Despite first round victories, both Chamberlain and Jefferson were eliminated in upcoming rounds.
Chamberlain defeated Robinson 66-64 to open the tournament while Jefferson beat Plant 52-49. The second round saw Blake top Chamberlain 48-47 while the Dragons stayed alive behind standout performances from Antonio Graham and Antonio Martin. Graham scored 18 points while Martin had 25 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and three steals as Jefferson topped Plant 52-49. The Dragons stumbled in the next round, however, falling to Blake 70-61.
At the Chamberlain Holiday Tournament, the opening round featured Leto losing 77-37 to Tampa Bay Tech, Gaither losing 64-58 to Riverview, Chamberlain again falling to Blake, this time 70-54, and Sickles losing to Hillsborough 52-51. In other tournament action, Alonso fell 59-46 in the opening round of the Bay Classic event and Sickles lost 52-50 to St. Petersburg Catholic in the semifinals of the Leto Holiday Classic. Cameron Colvin led the Gryphons with 21 points in the losing effort.
With all area squads back in action today, Alonso is at Sickles, Chamberlain hosts Gaither, East Bay hosts King, Freedom hosts Tampa Bay Tech, Gaither is at Chamberlain, Jefferson is at Newsome and Wharton is at Leto.
SOCCER: All the area boys and girls squads are in action tonight. The girls/boys doubleheaders feature Alonso hosting Sickles, Chamberlain is at Gaither, Freedom is at Blake, Leto is at Wharton, Jefferson is at Tampa Bay Tech.
