Bulls' woes at the line give Lions district edge

King took an important step toward wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A, District 8 with a 38-34 victory over Bloomingdale on Monday.

By BRYAN BURNS
Published January 9, 2007

TAMPA - King took an important step toward wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A, District 8 with a 38-34 victory over Bloomingdale on Monday.

With just four district games remaining, the Lions (11-2, 9-1) avenged a four-point loss to the Bulls (11-7, 8-2) on Nov. 21 to take a full game lead over Bloomingdale in the race for first place in the district.

"Over the years, (whenever) we run into (Bloomingdale), we always lose to them," King forward Shardrecka Collins said. "It was something mental for us. Winning tonight was a big step for us."

Collins was King's leading scorer with 16 points. She saved her finer moments for the third quarter, scoring eight and giving the Lions another scoring option with leading scorer Samara Shepherd on the bench with three fouls.

"Collins did a great job," King coach Nia Campbell said of her 5-foot-11 senior. "That's the great thing about our team: on any given night someone else can step up. ...It makes us hard to play."

The Bulls missed 8 of 12 free throws in the first quarter and were 13-of-26 for the game.

"That's been a weakness of ours for about three weeks now," Bloomingdale coach Mike Kiser said. "We're struggling at the line. If we make half of our missed free throws, we win the game."

King led 21-15 at halftime, and was up 34-25 after three quarters. Bloomingdale, which goes eight-deep most nights but dressed just seven Monday, played most of the second half with just six players when Adriana James fouled out with 2:35 left in the third.

The Bulls got within two points with a minute remaining on a 3-pointer by Anna Sleyzak, but Collins hit her final bucket in the paint 30 seconds later to seal it for King.

[Last modified January 8, 2007, 23:43:01]