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Tournament Time

By KELLIE DIXON
Published January 30, 2007

Area girls basketball teams start district tournament play today.

Class 4A, District 6

Where: West Port

Admission: $5 per session

Schedule: Today - (5) Citrus vs. (4) North Marion, 5 p.m.; (6) Crystal River vs. (3) Dunnellon, 6:30 p.m.; (7) Belleview vs (2) Lecanto, 8 p.m.; Thursday - Dunnellon/Crystal River winner vs. Lecanto/Belleview winner, 6 p.m.; (1) West Port vs. North Marion/Citrus winner, 7:30 p.m. Saturday - Championship, 7 p.m.

Favorite: West Port

Area contenders: None. But the fight for second is wide open.

County clips: Citrus - Rachel Fults (12.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg), Ashley Duval (4.0 steals per game), Devon Miller (7.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Shanley Lawler (4.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg) lead the 'Canes. Citrus (9-15, 4-8) hopes to take advantage of a bench that is small, but deeper than last year. The 'Canes have a good chance against North Marion - they made up for a two-point loss earlier this season with a 23-point win two weeks ago - but the next foe would be West Port.

Crystal River - Crystal River is getting more patient in its half-court offense, and its inside game with Brandy Worlton (6.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Alicia Davis (7.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg) is developing. Turnovers are still an issue, but Crystal River's defense, led by Ashley Clark (3.3 steals per game), has prevented teams from capitalizing. Crystal River (8-14, 4-8) could miss TaLeisha Hopkins (8.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg), who has an injured knee.

Lecanto - Coach Ron Allan wishes it was different, but no lead is safe with the Panthers, no matter what side they're on. The Panthers came back against Crystal River and Belleview, but they've also dropped leads, like against Citrus. Lecanto is led by Lexi Angelo (9.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Angie Acton (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Sasha Rodriguez (5.0 pg, 5.0 rpg), and the Panthers (13-10, 9-3) depend on their defense to shut teams down. Lecanto will miss Megan Alexander, who left the team for personal reasons.

Class A, District 6

Where: Bishop McLaughlin

Admission: $5 per session

Schedule: Today - (7) First Academy vs. (2) Seven Rivers, 4:30 p.m.; (6) Cedar Key vs (3) Meadowbrook Academy, 6 p.m.; (5) Bishop McLaughlin vs (4) Hernando Christian, 7:30 p.m. Thursday - Seven Rivers/First Academy winner vs. Meadowbrook/Cedar Key winner, 6 p.m.; (1) St. John Lutheran vs Hernando Christian/Bishop McLaughlin winner, 7:30 p.m. Saturday - Championship, 7 p.m.

Favorite: Ocala St. John Lutheran

County clip: There's a good reason for Seven Rivers to be distracted with assistant coach Mitch Steiner battling cancer, but the Warriors need to apply lessons learned from losing close games against stiff regular-season competition. The 12-9 Warriors are led by Rachael Capra (16 ppg, 5.0 blocks per game) and Bethany Woods, who has won about three games for the Warriors on last-second shots. Rachel Peshek, who has battled shin splints and a bad ankle this season, handles the ball for Seven Rivers.

[Last modified January 29, 2007, 20:08:02]