By FRANCIS FEDOR
Sumner won its two games, playing as the #1 seed, to win its district. The team cruised to a 70-37 win over the Riverview Sharks on Thursday night, Feb. 8, and, in a rare Saturday game, won a 66-42 decision over the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs to be crowned champions. It advances into the state playoffs beginning on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Stingray basketball opened the playoff season with a rousing defeat of South Shore rival Riverview. The Sharks defeated Strawberry Crest 72-54 to setup the rematch between the rivals, where Sumner won back in December. The Stingrays wasted no time in jumping on Riverview and built an insurmountable 30-17 lead by halftime and never looked back. As has been the case in the majority of the regular season games, Jacob Douglas led the ‘Rays with 15 points with many of those points coming off acrobatic layup drives into the lane. Douglas is undeterred by defenses and finds a way to make room in his cuts to the basket. Senior Jabory Nelson added 14 for the winners with half of those coming in the third quarter where he asserted his will against the Shark defense to add to the rout to open playoff action for the Stingrays. Senior Bryson Kearney and sophmore Elijah Gilroy scored nine each for Riverview.
Stingray players take the court after a time-out.
Stingray Devin Baker makes a play for a rebound over the Lakewood Ranch player.
Sumner senior Jabory Nelson finishes a slam-dunk with a Mustang player defending.
The win moved the ‘Rays to the district final vs. the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs. The Mustangs defeated the Newsome Wolves to earn their spot in the final. One of the game story lines was the coaches for both teams, Jake Baer for the Mustangs and Ryan Bethoney, played on the same basketball squad at Bloomingdale HS. Lakewood Ranch used the momentum of its win against the Wolves to stay with Sumner and were only down by a point at the end of the first quarter.
The Mustangs even led the Stingrays 10 – 7 at about the halfway point of the first. The Stingrays dominated the second quarter and were up 34-18 at the half. Lakewood Ranch had a more competitive third quarter, but Sumner closed strong and won going away.
The Stingrays will now enter the 7A state playoffs and play on the road on Thursday, Feb. 15. They open as an eight seed in the region three bracket and play at Winter Haven against the 24-1 Blue Devils who lost their first game and haven’t lost since.
Francis Fedor Photos
Sumner Stingray players and coaches pose with the district championship trophy after defeating Lakewood Ranch on Feb. 10.
Sumner girls basketball will also enter the 7A state playoffs as a result of its district championship win. The Stingray girls won easily, 56-23, over Strawberry Crest in the semi-final game and clinched their district title with another easy victory, again scoring 56 points to Lakewood Ranch’s 17. The Mustangs had a tough Friday and Saturday in their travels from Bradenton to Riverview, losing to both the boys and the girls in their respective finals. The Sumner girls avenged a 43-31 district semifinal loss to Lakewood Ranch in last season’s district playoffs. Marika Starks has been the head coach of the Stingray girls since the schools inception and has been building a successful program; the district title is the result of the work that she and her coaches have put into the program. They will open the state playoffs as a seven seed for region three and play against the two seeded Riverview Sarasota Rams on Weds., February 14.
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