Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School trailed for the majority of the game and fell behind by 26 points in the third quarter before ultimately losing 58-46 to top-seed Dunnellon in the District 4-4A girls basketball championship game tonight at North Marion High School.
The third-seed Indians (19-5) trimmed a double-digit deficit to nine late in the second quarter when Kiley Channell made a foul-jumper as well as two free throws. The Tigers (24-3) got a three-pointer from Alecia Larry, while Channell hit another free throw, making the halftime score 32-21 in favor of Dunnellon.
Madi Mitzel hit a short jumper for Keystone to start the third quarter, but Dunnellon then scored 17 straight points during a stretch in which the Indians went 0 for 15 from the field and committed eight turnovers.
Cold shooting plagued Keystone much of the night. The Indians made just 5 of 20 field-goal attempts in the opening quarter as Dunnellon was able to build a 10-4 lead.
Keystone Head Coach Jessica Carter said this season’s tendency has been that the Indians have at least one player who’s knocking down shots, even if others are struggling, but that just wasn’t the case against Dunnellon.
“We had a lot of open shots. We always have one of our girls on. There’s always at least one or two,” Carter said, adding, “The chips just didn’t fall our way.”
Channell and Mitzel finished with 15 and 10 points, respectively. The Indians also got eight points from Dezaray Bright, six points from Lindsay Qualls, four points from Emma Rogel and three points from Yasmin Bryant.
The Tigers, who fared better from the field, with Larry and Kmari Williams combining to shoot 10 three-pointers, earned an automatic berth in the regional playoffs by winning the championship. Keystone now waits to see if it earns an at-large berth, which is dependent upon state rankings.
Carter said she had no idea if her team had a good shot at earning an at-large bid, saying she didn’t understand how the rankings dictated that the Indians were the third seed in the District 4 tournament after losing just four games against the schedule they played. As the third seed, Keystone had to play two games in two nights to reach the championship game, whereas Dunnellon had to play just one game.
“I honestly don’t believe in the whole ranking system they have,” Carter said. “We played the hardest schedule out of all these teams, and we were still (seeded) third. I don’t understand that.”
If the Indians do make the playoffs, they will play a Region 1 quarterfinal game on the road on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.
“I guess we’ll see,” Carter said.
