By Basil Spyridakos, Times Correspondent
Thursday, February 10, 2011
CLEARWATER — Tyra Bolden scored a game-high 23 and grabbed eight rebounds to propel Clearwater to a 65-29 victory over Gibbs on Thursday night, and the Tornadoes advanced to the Class 5A region semifinals.
Clearwater's Shaquora Lane was effective at penetrating on the dribble and finding the open player. Lane often dished to Bolden, who scored the majority of her points in the paint.
"I've been trying really hard, staying late at the gym, trying to do my thing," Bolden said. "We didn't want to take any team for granted, and we wanted to come out and play our hardest."
Clearwater (24-4) broke the game open in the third quarter when freshman Alex Alford produced a steal at halfcourt and took it the distance. On Gibbs' ensuing throw in, Alford stole the ball again and passed to Bolden for the easy layup.
Gibbs (5-13) just had no answer for the 5-foot-11 sophomore.
"This time of year, halfcourt basketball is what's going to make the difference," Clearwater coach Tom Shaneyfelt said. "Everybody's pretty good at handling the press, so it's how well you execute every trip down the floor that matters.
"We wanted to stay sharp on the defensive end and on the offensive end, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that," Shaneyfelt added.
Gibbs' Ayonna Harrison scored 10 and had nine rebounds.