Palmetto upsets top seed Lakewood Ranch

The Palmetto High girls basketball team came from behind to beat No. 1 seed Lakewood Ranch 48-44 in the Class 7A-District 11 championship Jan. 29. 

Lakewood Ranch took an early 12-0 first-quarter lead and held onto the lead until the final minute of the fourth quarter. Palmetto tied the game at 44-44 with 44.3 seconds left to play before scoring the game’s final four points. 

“We had a lot of miscues,” Lakewood Ranch coach Tina Hadley said. “We just had some unorthodox turnovers (Friday), and I couldn’t seem to calm them down. I was like ‘Just calm down and play basketball.” 

Junior forward LaDazhia Williams led all Lakewood scorers with 20 points. Senior Kyra Klarkowski added 11 points. Senior Elise Spiller was held to five points while senior Kailyn Scully and sophomore Sarah Fazio each added four points. The Mustangs were without junior forward Aleah Robinson, who injured her hamstring last week against Winter Haven. 

As the district runner-up, Lakewood will travel to Riverdale for a Class 7A-Region 3 quarterfinal. The Mustangs advanced to the regional finals last season as the district runner-up and are looking to take it two steps further this season. 

“Our goal is still the same: to win a state championship,” Hadley said. “That hasn’t changed.

“I think they needed to feel that — they need to understand what they need to do every time they get on the floor,” Hadley said. “If we want to go all the way to state, we need to understand that every time we step on the floor, we need to execute, we need to play defense and we need to take care of the ball. Point blank.” 

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].