By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
ARCADIA - It was nearly a decade in the making for the Lake Placid girls basketball program, with the last district championship being claimed in the 2004-05 season.
But a shaky start made what had seemed to be a forgone conclusion a bit more tenuous before this Lady Dragon squad could bring the title back home with Friday's 55-47 win over the host Lady Bulldogs.
Lake Placid had rolled through the regular-season district schedule undefeated, topping DeSoto twice, and had little trouble dispatching of Mulberry in Tuesday's semifinal game.
But there was that old adage that point guard Alex Coyne was well aware of.
"Beating a team twice in the season is one thing," she said afterward. "But that third time is the tough one, and they made it one of the toughest games we've had all season."
From the start it was a back-and-forth battle, with Tuesday's high scorer Bria Wilson getting on the board twice early, only to see both buckets answered on a jumper from Amelia Hamilton and a drive from Tishonna Riley.
Riley would put DeSoto up with a put-back, but Coyne would get hot for a stretch, forcing a turnover and scoring on the break, flashing in from the left on a drive and then banking in a three-pointer.
But the Bulldogs kept biting with a Mariah Noble inside score and a baseline jumper from Hamilton.
The Dragons would get a lay-in from Quiahja Williams and Coyne would put in a long two, but Hamilton kept pouring it on with a free throw, two more jumpers and an inside score to put DeSoto up 18-15 after one.
McKayla Jeter and Ladeja Dennis got into the act with a jumper and two free throws, respectively, to start the second and push the lead to 22-15.
But Coyne cut it back with two remarkable scores.
On one, she found defenders blocking her initial drive into the lane, so she pulled a spin move and flipped it up and in with the left hand.
Then, with a defender giving ground, she halted a hard drive and lofted a floater that found nothing but net.
The Lady Bulldogs, however, answered with another Riley drive and a Noble follow and Hamilton would get another score on a fast break.
But the Dragons hung tough with Coyne hitting two free throws and Wilson scoring inside twice to keep the halftime margin at 28-25.
"I was really worried about some of the younger girls, being in the big game, and it was a little shaky," head coach Jackie Coyne said. "With the way it started, I was just hoping we could keep it under a 10-point lead. When we got to half and it was only three, I felt a lot better about it."
An attitude shared by the coach's daughter.
"We're a second-half team and I knew we had it," Alex said. "We saw it basically as an even game. We knew we'd get those three points back and from there it would be back to 0-0."
They got those three points back, and then some, as Lake Placid roared out of the gate to start the third, going on a 13-0 run that put them up 10 after just 3:15 had gone off the clock.
And they did it without a score from Coyne.
"I couldn't hit anything from the outside tonight," she said, despite her 15 points in the first half. "But the key was Bria. She hit some really big shots that got us going and turned it around."
Wilson did score the first two baskets of the third, both from inside, before a Shaquavia Gayle putback and a Williams fast-break score.
Wilson then took it outside and canned a three before working in the paint for another two to put Lake Placid up 38-28.
Dennis would come alive and do the bulk of DeSoto's scoring in the third, all of it in fact, but Wilson made a slick inside pass to Williams for a score, Gayle got out on the break and Wilson drained another trey and the lead was 45-36 heading into the final eight minutes.
DeSoto would make a couple more pushes, mostly when Bianca Robinson hit a three that made it 51-45 halfway through the final period.
But there was Wilson again with a put-back to up the ante once again and all but seal the deal.
Coyne would add just four points, all on free throws, in the second half for her total of 19 for the night.
But it was Wilson's 14 second-half points, on the way to a game high 22, that carried the Dragons to the District 10-4A title.
"I noticed we had a good mis-match with Bria and we tried getting it to her more in the second half to take advantage," coach Coyne said. "It's such a great feeling and a relief. I couldn't be more proud of what these girls have done."
"We've just worked so hard all year," the younger Coyne said. "And now we've got the district title to show for it."
As winners of the tournament, the Dragons move into the Regional Quarterfinals Thursday and will play host to the District 9 runner up, Holy Names of Tampa, while DeSoto travels to face the District 9 champion Tampa Catholic.
Sunday, February 03, 2013 - www.newssun.com/SUN-2-3-13-LPGBB