BROOKSVILLE - It's not the first shot that concerns Nature Coast Tech coach Jason Montgomery. It's the two or three that follow.
Preventing them will be among the second-seeded Sharks' top priorities when they play No. 3 Wildwood in a Class 3A, District 6 semifinal Thursday at Pasco. A win puts first-year Nature Coast (13-12) in the final Saturday and assures it a playoff berth. A loss, and the Sharks are done for the season.
"We want to win the district, but the only game we're worried about is Wildwood on Thursday," Montgomery said. "That's the one game you play for all year."
The teams split the regular-season series, with Nature Coast winning 54-37 on Jan. 9 at home and losing 48-37 on Jan. 27 at Wildwood.
With the Wildcats in a zone, the Sharks shot well from the outside and rolled to an early 20-point lead in the first meeting. The second game was tighter, and Wildwood's 20 offensive rebounds ultimately made the difference. The Wildcats, 0-for-9 from 3-point range and 13-for-34 from the foul line in the two games, aren't the best shooting team in the district. But they might be the tallest.
"They're big at every position, 5-9 at the guards and close to 6-0 inside and real athletic," Montgomery said. "They probably go 10 deep and don't lose a lot. To be honest, they're not real skilled basketball-wise as a whole, but they'll throw it up and miss it and go get it and go get it."
Nature Coast, plagued by inconsistency the final few weeks of the season, has gotten a boost from freshman Jessica Eberts. She averaged 7.5 points and 5.1 rebounds during the past seven games and shot 34 percent from 3-point range and scored in double figures in four of her past six outings. Eberts joins juniors Mallory Freeman (13 ppg), Cara Cagan (10.7) and Olivia Murray (8.9) as the leading scorers. Freeman averages 8.7 rebounds. Murray leads in assists (4) and steals (3). No statistic will be more important Thursday than Nature Coast's defensive rebounds. "If we box out and the officials call it, we'll be all right," Montgomery said. "If we don't box out and the officials allow them to climb us all night, then it can be a long night, because around the basket they're pretty good."
