Cougars overpower Sharks for title

Twice during the regular season, Gulf Coast coach Pierre Eaton saw his Lady Sharks fall to the Barron Collier Cougars by 39 and 35 points. The Feb. 4 meeting would be for the 5A District 15 championship.

“Let’s see what happens,” Eaton said to his assistant on the bench after a careful study of the Lady Cougar pre-game warm-ups.

Photo by KEN LANE

Dani Johnson (So.) of Barron Collier helping her Lady Cougars to their fifth straight district title in their 61-24 win over Gulf Coast, Feb. 4, at Lehigh.

Unfortunately for the Sharks the Cougars equaled their average margin claiming their fifth straight district championship, 61-24.

“They are a really great team and we just didn’t play well,” Eaton said at the end of the game. “Against a great team like that, you have to execute.”

Eaton added that the biggest problem his Sharks face is not starting off well in a game. That problem was clearly evident against Barron Collier as they allowed the Cougars to jump out to a 20-0 opening lead and were nearly scoreless for the entire first quarter.

“The kids played hard, we just didn’t do what we are supposed to do in the beginning,” Eaton said. “We played better as the game went on, but you can’t go almost scoreless in the first quarter. We usually play really well in the second and third quarters but against a team like this, if we don’t start off well we get our brains beat out. And that is what happened.”

The Sharks (20-7) travel to face Jackson in regional quarterfinal action, Feb. 9. The Cougars (26-2) will host Ft. Lauderdale-Dillard. Leading scorers for the Lady Sharks were Vicki Rittberg and Sarah Gildersleeve with five points each.