LAKELAND – Its first time in Lakeland since 1999, Nease sure didn’t play like it jumping on defending state champs Fort Myers early and never looking back in a 52-40 win in the Class 7A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center.
Part of that was the play of senior Camille Hobby, who collected another double -double with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Of course she wasn’t alone as Kiya Turner chipped in with 14 points and 9 rebounds, while Tia Robinson added 9 points and 6 rebounds.
Playing the three time defending state champs is intimidating but if Nease was intimidated they didn’t show it.
After Chaniya Clark hit a three to give the Greenwave an early 3-0 lead, the Panthers quickly established the lead with a 10-0 run to take a 10-3 lead thanks to Hobby, Turner and Robinson.
Carrying a 14-11 lead into the second quarter, Nease began to pull away with a 13-6 run during the quarter to take a 27-17 lead into the half.
Nease came out knowing they were 16 minutes from playing from a state title and didn’t take their foot off the gas.
A quick 4-0 run to start the third thanks to two free throws from Turner and a jumper from Hobby increased the lead to 31-17 their biggest lead of the game barely two minutes into the third.
As the game stretched into the fourth quarter, Nease maintained its ten point lead holding a 15 point lead at 46-31 with 1:21 left in the game.
Despite the run away win, things were quite equal as both teams finished with 17 turnovers, shot 50% at the free throw line and were separated by only one rebound. Yet what doomed Fort Myers was poor shooting as Nease held them to 25% from the floor.
Janay Outten and Clark tied with 13 points each to lead the Green Wave (15-10) in scoring, Clark also added 16 rebounds in the loss.
After taking out the three-time defending state champs, it won’t get any easier though as Nease (29-1) will play state power Dillard (25-5), who defeated Father Lopez 53-38 in the first semifinal, in the Class 7A title game Saturday at 2 p.m. in Lakeland.
