Pasco sideline

QUOTABLE

"What it ends up being is a nice four matches at the championship level. It's a large amount of high-caliber matches, and at this time of the season for a young team, it all comes down to mat time."

-- VINCENT LOWE: Ridgewood wrestling coach, on the benefits of tough competition at this weekend's Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Mustangs hot for the holidays

Mitchell coach Steve Knobl said his Mustangs have pulled together after a 55-47 loss to defending conference and district champion Ridgewood at home on Nov. 28.

Since that early-season loss, Mitchell has run out to a 5-0 record and is now 7-1. The team is doing it with defense, holding foes to an average of 30 points a game.

The offense has also picked up the pace, and the output has been balanced. Moira Gustin is the leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points a game. But everyone else is scoring about the same, from Lacey Arens' 8.0 points-per-game average to Brittnee Williamson's 6.25 average.

But the best may be yet to come.

"I think when school gets out and we're playing over the break that we'll really get it together," Knobl said. "That's when I think we'll start playing our best, when the kids are a bit less distracted."

Especially with a Jan. 4 rematch with Ridgewood at the Rams' gym looming, one with huge district and conference implications.

SOCCER

A look at the county soccer leaders shows a decided difference between the two genders -- Gulf's Alex Maric is the only boys player with enough points to rank in the top six in the girls standings. Maric has 11 more goals than any other boy in the county, and even he has seven fewer than Land O'Lakes' Stacy Bishop. Bishop has 27 goals, good enough to nearly average a hat trick

The top 10 girls scorers combine for 110 goals; the top 10 boys total 69. And yet the girls offer three goalkeepers with a goals-against-average of 1.00 or lower, while no boys goalie can boast the same. Before you start writing your angry letters about the higher level of defense in the boys game, we're just making an observation, not an indictment of either side's strengths or weaknesses.

BEST BET: BOYS SOCCER

WHEN: 8 p.m

NEED TO KNOW: Freshman Jeremy Enix continues to lead Hudson while senior Robert Pollock is sidelined with a sprained ankle. Enix' five goals and four assists lead the Cobras, who hope to have Pollock back in time for next week's Puma Classic. They'll face an up-and-down Pirates team that has beaten River Ridge, Wesley Chapel and Mitchell by a combined 10 goals, but is winless in its other seven matches.

TODAY'S SLATE

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Hudson at Wesley Chapel, 7:30 p.m.; Land O'Lakes at Zephyrhills, 7:30 p.m.; Mitchell at Pasco, 7:30 p.m.; Palm Harbor University at River Ridge, 7:45 p.m.; Gulf at Ridgewood, 7:30 p.m

FOOTBALL: Gulf-Ridgewood alumni football game, 7 p.m., Des Little Stadium, Gulf High School.

BOYS SOCCER: Hudson at Pasco, 8 p.m.; Mitchell at Leesburg, 8 p.m.; River Ridge at Land O'Lakes, 8 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER: Gulf at Ridgewood, 8 p.m.; Land O'Lakes at River Ridge, 8 p.m.; Mitchell at Leesburg, 8 p.m.; Pasco at Hudson, 8 p.m.

WRESTLING: Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando (Gulf, Hudson, Pasco, Ridgewood, River Ridge, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills); Lyman Invitational (Land O'Lakes).

SATURDAY'S SLATE

BOYS SOCCER: Leesburg at Gulf, 2 p.m

GIRLS SOCCER: LCS Christmas Classic (Zephyrhills vs. Kings Academy, TBA).

WRESTLING: Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando (Gulf, Hudson, Pasco, Ridgewood, River Ridge, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills); Lyman Invitational (Land O'Lakes).

IN SPORTS EXTRA

Ridgewood travels to Land O'Lakes for an imortant Class 4A, District 8 battle.

--Compiled by Greg Auman, Steve Lee and Jamal Thalji.

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