On Friday night, the Nature Coast Sharks (5-7) routed the Central Bears (3-12) in girls’ basketball 52-16. Head Coach Emily Gore’s Sharks’ dominant defense propelled the team to a sizeable lead before their offense put the game away in the second half.
“I think defensively we did a pretty good job in the first half, but offense it seemed it was just shaky and off, a lot of turnovers,” said Coach Gore. “So, wasn’t happy with that. Got a little bit better in the second half, got things going a little bit better.”
The Columbia Blue would open the match draining the first two buckets before Central Sophomore Cassidy Zavrel (10 points, 2 treys) responded with a shot from downtown. Trailing 4-3 less than 4 minutes into the contest, that would be the closest the visitors would come for the rest of the evening.
Then, the Sharks went on the first of two huge runs to ice the contest. Across the next 9:51 of game time, the home team would outscore the Bears 19-2. During this stretch, Nature Coast played suffocating defense that complemented their offense.
Sharks Junior Gabby Dross (18 points) was a huge piece of the home team’s decimation of the Bears as she logged seven steals on fast break opportunities, which led directly to five baskets made in that span.
With her squad only leading by seven early in the second frame, Dross logged seven straight points on three of her steals to grow her team’s lead to 14 points. Another steal by her seconds later would make it into the basket by way of Senior Jaida Grier (12 points).
At the break, the Sharks led by a relatively comfortable 24-9 margin, but there was room to improve offensively. “We talked at halftime about kind of ramping up the intensity a little bit, bring the pressure so we can get some layups,” Coach Gore added.
Ramp up intensity they did. The defense continued to be suffocating and aggressive, which led to more scoring opportunities. They would also capitalize more offensively in the second half.
25 straight points followed (including a 19-0 third quarter) for the home team out of the half until midway through the final frame. Dross and Grier continued to log key plays to put the matchup thoroughly out of reach.
Looking ahead to their next matchups, Central will be taking part in another cross-county clash when they host the Weeki Wachee Hornets on Tuesday night. The Bears will host the Green and Black at 7:30.
The Sharks, however, will travel to take on the Citrus Hurricanes at 8:00 pm on Tuesday. Coach Gore and company will hope to continue building momentum by limiting their turnovers against the Hurricanes.
