Six area high school girls basketball teams enter regional play tonight — three state-ranked district champions playing at home and three runners-up hitting the road.
Playing in their own gyms are Class 5A No. 4 Barron Collier (26-2), which faces Fort Lauderdale-Dillard (16-7), Class 4A No. 9 Naples (22-3), which plays Dunbar (16-10), and Class 2A No. 4 Community School (20-4), which plays Indian Rocks Christian (18-9).
The Cougars have a chance to seek out a little revenge — Dillard knocked them out of the playoffs, 60-46, in the region semifinals last year in a matchup of the state’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Fort Lauderdale. Oh, and Dillard ended the Cougars’ season the previous year too.
This time, Barron Collier is the favorite going in, and has the home-court advantage.
“They’re extremely athletic, not as experienced as those two great teams that we played those last two years,” Barron Collier coach Mike Hamburger said. “But they kind of reload.”
Hamburger has a good feeling heading into the game.
“I feel confident,” he said. “I think if we play our game, we’re as good as anybody out there. We’ve got to control the tempo, control our turnovers. And we’ve got to stay out of foul trouble.”
Partly because of the Cougars’ success, Naples has flown a bit under the radar this season. But the Golden Eagles have just three losses — two of them coming to Barron Collier and one in overtime to Community School — and are in the state rankings this week.
Naples, led by Jessica Gary and Marlena Elbert, will face an athletic Dunbar team that lost to Cypress Lake, 59-49, in their district final.
“I’ve talked with some coaches,” Naples coach Dave Walker said. “They think (Dunbar is) the most athletic team in Lee County. They’ve got all of the components of being a great basketball team.”
But Naples is coming off an impressive performance in dominating Lely to win the district title. “If we play with that aggressiveness and that attitude when we step on the court, we’re a load,” said Walker, who has met Dunbar coach Dwayne Donnell before. Donnell’s Cape Coral-Mariner teams and Walker’s Naples teams faced one another several times.
Community School used a 21-4 run to start the game and beat St. John Neumann for the district championship last week. The Seahawks played without guard Jamie Navarro, who has been nursing a knee injury. Coach Mitch Woods said after the game that whether Navarro plays or rests depended upon the opponent.
Indian Rocks Christian lost to then-No. 1 First Academy of Orlando in the regional semifinals last year. CSN then dropped a 46-43 decision to First Academy in the regional final.
Sitting and likely waiting in the regional final this year? First Academy, No. 1 again and 25-2 heading into its regional quarterfinal.
Meanwhile, Gulf Coast, Lely and St. John Neumann all go on the road.
No team has it tougher than the Sharks. They face Class 5A No. 2 Miami Jackson (27-1).
Lely will try to recapture the magic it had a couple of weeks ago, when it upset Cypress Lake at the Naples Dodge Shootout. Coach Nick Young called that game “surreal.” The Panthers seemed to have regrouped after losing four starters to injury, winning the Class 4A District 11 title.
Neumann, which cut a 17-point deficit to nine against Community School, will play at Keswick Christian, whose pressure defense forced 24 turnovers in a 51-41 district title game win over Indian Rocks Christian.
Tonight’s winners will advance to regional semifinals on Tuesday.
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