Girls basketball: Snakovsky stays tough to power Sickles

By JOEY KNIGHT
Published February 3, 2008

TAMPA - During the course of her team's district title game against St. Petersburg, Sickles senior Shawnta Snakovsky's left eye had been bruised, her jersey pulled in all sorts of directions, and her shot altered.

But her resilience sustained nary a scratch.

Amid a woeful shooting night against physical No. 2 seed St. Petersburg, the Gryphons (24-2) reeled off a sequence of interior fourth-quarter baskets to pull away for a 40-31 triumph in the Class 6A, District 7 final.

And Snakovsky (13 points) was at the center of the spurt. Her two layups - one on Britany Nunes' transition feed, the other on Melissa Ramsey's inbounds pass - during an 11-2 charge gave Sickles a 35-25 lead.

"She stayed in the game," said Gryphons coach Mark Key, whose team hosts Sarasota in a region quarterfinal Thursday. "They had their hands on her all night, they hit her in the face one time, but she stuck in there."

Sickles needed that toughness on a night when its outside shooting touch never showed up. The Gryphons didn't score a field goal outside the lane in the second half, and sank only eight of 23 free throws.

But they successfully pounced on St. Petersburg's miscues, which included 25 turnovers. The Green Devils, who split the regular-season series with the Gryphons, had a litany of traveling violations and watched Snakovsky convert two steals into transition layups in the first half.

Still, the Green Devils had trimmed their deficit to 24-23 on Jazmyne Green's basket before Sickles embarked on its decisive run, which began with Erica Early's inside bucket.

"Turnovers killed us," Green Devils coach Ryan Halstead said. "Give them credit; they made plays. Shawnta gets three or four steals and gets out on the break, and we didn't do a good job keeping her from transition points."

[Last modified February 2, 2008, 22:57:16]