After toppling rival Newsome to claim their first district championship since the 2016-2017 season, Durant’s girls basketball team entered the regional quarterfinal as a fourth seed.
Despite heading into the regional tournament as a district champion, allowing Durant to be seeded in the top half of their eight-team region, they were ultimately matched up against 19-1 Riverview Sarasota last Thursday night.
Riverview Sarasota raced out to a 18-0 regular season, moving to 19-0 with a district semifinal win over North Port before then notching their only loss of the season against North Port in the district final.
Despite the stellar record, Riverview Sarasota entered the tournament as a five seed, the region’s highest-seeded team without a district championship.
To make matters worse, Durant would be forced to head into the contest without junior Miani Mejia, their second-leading scorer, due to injury.
Riverview Sarasota really controlled the pace from the beginning, jumping out to an 8-0 lead to open the contest before holding a 14-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 35-14 lead at the half. As talented as this Durant team proved they were all season long, they were never able to get into a rhythm as Riverview Sarasota continued to pull away throughout the second half en route to a 65-29 final.
As the Cougars’ season officially comes to a close, it will be remembered for far more than the loss that ended it. Durant’s girls compiled a final record of 20-5, lifted a district championship trophy and will see their four leading scorers all return as seniors for the 2022-2023 season next year.
A few miles away, Plant City’s boys headed to Newsome the following night for a chance to battle for their own district championship.
In what was certainly one of the best games of the year among all Plant City area high school basketball teams, the Raiders and Wolves battled for every second of their contest as Newsome narrowly escaped with a 49-45 victory and the district title.
After a back-and-forth first quarter with several lead changes in the game’s first eight minutes, the two teams entered the second quarter knotted up at 14-14. In the second, Newsome began to pull away as they clawed their way out to a 23-18 lead, but two huge buckets in the final minutes of the first half had Plant City right back in it and the game remained tied 23-23 heading into halftime.
The third quarter remained tense as the game saw five lead changes in the span of just five minutes, with both teams red hot from the floor and Plant City’s D.J. Haynes seemingly willing the Raiders back in front every time Newsome would take the lead. At the end of the third quarter, Newsome led 35-34.
Haynes finished the game with a team-high 23 points on 64 percent shooting
It all came down to the wire. Trailing 45-40 with 55 seconds left, Plant City’s Mike Bell hit a massive three to bring the Raiders back within one score at 45-43.
Plant City was then forced to begin fouling Newsome with hopes that the Wolves’ shooters could leave them a chance to pull out the victory with mistakes at the free throw line, but Newsome closed the game out with poise.
Two free throws put Newsome ahead 47-43 and Plant City answered with a layup from Jermarian Jackson, but two more free throws from the Wolves in the game’s final seconds sealed the 49-45 contest.
Despite coming up just short in their district final, Plant City’s overall record of 20-7 was good enough to earn them a spot in the regional tournament where they will travel to 20-7 Olympia High School on Thursday.