LAKELAND – Down 4 with 6:08 to play, it appeared Bartram Trail had finally climbed back in it; however a 11-3 run by Tampa Bay Tech allowed them to close it out in a 44-32 loss in the Class 8A state semifinals.
Bartram Trail dug themselves a pretty deep hole they couldn’t get out of and spent the whole game trying to get out of it.
Tampa Bay Tech (29-3) opened with a 9-0 run thanks in part to six turnovers by the Bears in the first four minutes.
A free throw by Moira McCarthy with 3:15 left in the first quarter ended the drought and finally put the Bears on the scoreboard.
By then the damage had already been done as the Titans played like a team who played in the Final Four last year and the Bears played like a team, who was making their first appearance in six years.
Yet despite the early deficit, the Bears clawed their way back in it trailing only 19-13 at the half.
After a Jasmine Peaks jumper, which extended the lead to 21-13, the Bears went on a 8-0 run to tie the game at 21-21 with 4:33 left in the third.
Bella Weary drove the paint and scored off a turnover to start the rally, Dana Art pulled for a jumper, Weary again scored in the paint off another turnover and Art followed with a three-pointer tying the game.
That was as close as the Bears would get though as the Titans never relinquished the lead at all.
A 7-3 run to close out the third quarter, gave the Titans a 28-24 lead going into the final quarter.
That’s when things began to slip away for Bartram Trail, after closing within 33-29 with 6:08 left, the Titans made their move and quickly gained the momentum back they would never give up.
Back-to-back missed three pointers from Sierra Calleson and Weary started the drought, while the Titans couldn’t miss.
A 10-0 run by the Titans extended the lead to 43-29 with 1:53 left in the game.
Faith Kellar three pointer with 5 seconds left not only ended the scoring run but the Bears magical run to Lakeland as well. As the Bears saw their nine game winning streak come to a close, including winning 13 of their last 14 games.
While it wasn’t the way they wanted their season to end, the Bears (24-7) can hang their heads high knowing they became only the fourth team to make it to Lakeland joining the 2005, 2012 and 2013 teams.
For head coach Jacob Teuscher, he knows the program finally got over the hump of losing in the Elite 8 two of the last four years and finally got to Lakeland with such a young team.
He also knows that’s it quite likely they will end back in Lakeland again as the Bears return 10 of their 11 players next season, including the entire starting five including Weary (8 points), Dyllan Hanna (2 points), McCarthy (2 points), Haley Provencal and Art (10 points) after staring four sophomores and one freshman.
