ST. PETERSBURG — Earlier in the season, Cambridge fell to Lakeside Christian. In Thursday's A-9 district semifinal, the scoring trio of Susan Bealor, Rachael Bode and Chachere Moore propelled the Lancers to a 52-43 victory.

"They knew we had to get scoring from different positions," Lancers coach John Wilson said. "They were focused and ready to do their jobs.

Bealor, who scored 14 points, did most of her damage in the first quarter, scoring 10 as the Lancers took an 18-11 lead. The Lions stayed close behind the offense of Hannah Ray, Charity Henry and Kaitlyn Lawrence.

The Lions attacked the Lancers' pressure and closed the gap to 28-24 at halftime. Moore scored six quick points for the Lancers out of halftime and Bode added eight more as Cambridge outscored Lakeside 16-7.

"They're a good team," Lions coach Brooke Sibert said. "They hit a lot of great shots and we didn't execute."

In the fourth quarter the Lions tried a comeback but the foul shooting of the Lancers, who finished 11-of-11, thwarted any opportunity.

"To play a total team game like this means a lot," Wilson said. "Our role players did well on defense and rebounding. I appreciate that."

Bode led the Lancers with 22 points, six assists and six steals. Moore scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Sarah Klecvka scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Lions. Kaitlyn Lawrence scored nine and Hannah Ray added seven.

In the second semifinal, Keswick Christian dominated Tampa Bay Christian 68-37. The Crusaders had four players in double figures: Cassie Foster and Sarah Trill scored 15 each, and Tori Hale and Alexa Dietz added 11. Trill pulled down nine rebounds, and Hale passed out 12 assists.

Yessenia Crespo scored 24 points for the Rams and Danielle Grantham added 11.

Quote of the Day: "You're only as good, as you think you are." Marvin Harvey

Basketball ShotLAB in Tampa, Florida where the Pros Train:

TAMPA-  The University of South Florida men’s basketball team collected its second consecutive BIG EAST overtime win with a thrilling 76-74 win over Seton Hall Thursday night at the Sun Dome.

The Bulls' victory was the first time in program history that USF has won back-to-back BIG EAST contests. USF defeated Providence 109-105 on Saturday night in overtime.

With five seconds remaining in overtime, Seton Hall came up the court with a chance to tie the game and force a second overtime, but junior Jarrid Famous came up with the steal as time expired.

The Bulls got 28 points from junior Dominique Jones, his seventh straight 20-point effort, including four clutch free-throws in overtime to reach 1,500 points in his career.

The win over Seton Hall was the first win for the Bulls over the Pirates, and improved USF to 3-5 in BIG EAST play. USF was previously 0-7 against Seton Hall before the win Thursday night.

Famous collected his sixth double-double of the season as he accounted for 15 points and 14 rebounds on the night.

Senior Chris Howard collected 12 points and six rebounds including the eventual game-winner in overtime, and added a pair of assists.

Seton Hall got off to a quick start, opening the game on a 7-1 run.

The Bulls responded with a 4-0 run of their own, including a fast-break dunk by Mike Mercer off of a pass from Jones.

USF gained its first lead of the game at the 11:39 mark of the opening half, when Famous took a pass in transition, slammed it down for two, and ignited the home crowd.

The Bulls capped another 6-0 run at the 7:46 mark as senior Ryan Kardok spotted up at the top of the arc in transition, and nailed a three to put USF up 17-14.

Seton Hall regained its lead, but USF came back after back-to-back jumpers by Famous and Jones to cut the Pirate lead to 28-27 heading into halftime.

Mercer got the scoring started with a fast-break layup to open the second half off of a missed Seton Hall shot, giving the Bulls a 29-28 advantage.

At 1:45 into the second half, Famous went up for a layup, and was intentionally fouled and hit the bucket. Jones then hit both free throws, and USF was able to score on a bucket by Fitzpatrick in the lane to take a 37-30 lead.

After a flurry of scores for both squads, Seton Hall was able to close the gap to 43-42 with 12:47 remaining, before Jones pulled up for a long jumper to put the Bulls back up by three.

Junior guard Dominique Jones finished the game against Seton Hall with 28 points to give him 1,517 career points, one of only six players to accomplish the feat. Up next on the all-time list is No. 5 Chucky Atkins, who had 1,619 points during his career.

- Jones scored 28 points on the night, and the 20-point effort was the 32nd time in his career and the 12th time this season he has hit for 20 or more. The 28 points was the seventh game in a row that he has scored at least 20 points.

- Jones is averaging 28.4 points per game over his last seven contests and is shooting 51.6 percent from the floor during that time as well as 78.9 percent from the free throw line.

- Jones hit 10-of-11 from the free throw line and is now 28-of-33 (84.8 percent) over his last three games

Quote of the Day: "When we lose the right to be different, we lose the right to be free." - Charles Evans Hughes

"There are two types of players, trained and untrained." - Marvin Harvey: 

Dominique Jones was feeling it Saturday night. The South Florida junior guard from Lake Wales went above and beyond what any Bull has done in a single game by scoring 46 points in a 109-105 overtime victory at Providence.

Jones' vision was clear on the court. He nailed 15 of his 23 shots from the field (65 percent) and 14 of 18 free throws to pass former USF star Charlie Bradley, who put up 42 points in 1982.

"I guess I was just in my zone," the Big East Player of the Week said Wednesday. "I've never been in a zone like that before, so I plan on trying to stay in that zone."

It was the most points he's ever scored in a game, even surpassing the totals he put up to earn The Ledger's player of the year in 2007. Still, Jones doesn't look at it as a huge deal.

"It feels like an accomplishment, but I look at it as something small because that's not my main goal," he said. "My main goal for this team right now is to make it to the NCAA tournament. My main goal for myself is to leave South Florida a winner and go up to the NBA and be an NBA All-Star."

So far, his team goal is starting to come together. After going 9-22 last season, the Bulls are 12-7 heading into tonight's home game against Seton Hall.

"We have a little controversy here and there, but I think the main thing with us is just working hard and getting wins with each other," he said.

Jones himself had to deal with a controversy last year. Former USF reserve guard Gaby Belardo suspected Jones and other former teammates of stealing thousands of dollars worth of property from his apartment in Tampa. Jones was cleared.

"It was just rumors from that person because they transferred," Jones said. "They just wanted to say different things about a program. I ain't gotta steal nothing. If I want something, I got money to buy it."

"You just can't let people get to you," he said. "Misery always wants company. Somebody isn't happy with their life and the way things are going in their life, they want other people to be down. Me being who I am, I can't let that thing get to me."

Jones has proved that he's doing just fine. He's averaging a team-leading 21 points this season after posting 19.6- and 18.1-point averages the two previous seasons.

The key for him has been connecting on more free throws, and more importantly executing his mid-range shot this season.

"You never know what I'm gonna do now," he said. "You never know if I'm gonna shoot the three, or pull up, or go all the way to the basket."

Jones is hopeful he'll be using each of his tools at basketball's highest level, which has been a dream for him since he was young.

"You always have things, you got kids that wanna be police officers and firemen and stuff like that," he said. "It's not really about the money, it's just doing something in life that you like to do. Basketball is something that I like to do. I can wake up every morning and go play basketball."

In the process, Jones makes a point of representing where he's from. He loves Lake Wales and embraces the moments he's had there.

"No matter what people say, every little thing that I experienced in Lake Wales has made me stronger, even the things from my personal life with my family. That gave me motivation to just look for a better life," he said.

Quote of the Day: "The harder I trained, the luckier I became." Major General Robert C. Taylor

Every player in basketball should experience the ShotLAB:

By Times Correspondent

ST. PETERSBURG — When St. Petersburg Catholic and Tampa Catholic met in December, Jerica Coley did all she could as the Barons guard dropped in a career-high 42 points. But no one else on SPC scored more than six in a seven-point loss.

On Wednesday, Coley was all-everything again, with timely steals (six), rebounds (six), assists (four), blocks (four) and, of course, points (29) when the Barons needed them. The difference this time was her teammates as sophomore guard Brittney Dunbar, with 16 points, and sophomore forward Annie Artise, with 13, each recorded season highs on the way to a 71-63 upset. The Crusaders (20-2) entered the game as the state's 10th-ranked team overall and riding a 15-game winning streak.

"She's always coming through for us and she did everything she could the last time (in trying to earn a win)," Dunbar said of Coley. "We came together after that game and said that the rest of us needed to step up if we were going to come through for her and help us do well down the stretch."

Another classic in this long-held rivalry, the game was a see-saw affair in which Tampa Catholic went to halftime with a 29-24 lead only to see the Barons (12-2) use a 10-1 run at the beginning of the second half on their way to a 49-43 lead at the end of the third quarter, highlighted by Coley's NBA-range 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"(Coley) is a great player and she showed it again tonight," Tampa Catholic coach Nancy Kroll said. "They had some other players step up for them, too, which was a difference for them.

"But we played two different halves tonight. As good as we were in the first half, we were that bad in the second half."

In the fourth, after Tampa Catholic tied it at 51, baskets by Artise and Dunbar gave the Barons a 56-51 lead before the Crusaders went on a 9-0 run, led by Colette Eule, who scored a team-high 28. Coley, who surpassed 1,500 career points, then took over, scoring 10 consecutive points along with two huge steals and two even bigger blocked shots, during a 10-1 run to seal the game.

Coley is the third Marvin Harvey player to score over 1,000 points this year, Chris Warren of Ole Miss reached the 1,000 point club in the beginning of his junior year and after missing most of his sophomore year due to injury, in the SEC Conference, and Michelle Taylor did it at Plant HS in Tampa, Florida.

Quote of the Day: "There is no traffic on the extra mile." Chief Nelson

Richard Tribble training at the ShotLAB in Tampa, Florida pays off:

Even after leading his team to the Region 8-AA championship and the second round of the state playoffs last season, Riverside Military senior Richard Tribble had no problem handing off his point guard duties. In fact, the transition to shooting guard was a natural fit.

“Last year I was told I needed to shoot more,” Tribble said. “So I went to the shooting camps (The LAB in Tampa), and everything, and (the position switch) really fits right in.”

Shooting more seems to be paying dividends. Aside from his team-high averages in steals (4.5 per game) and assists (3.9 per game), Tribble leads the Eagles (10-3, 3-0 Region 8A-AA) with 15.8 points per game. Last week, he scored 18 in a win over Banks County, then topped that with 26 in a win over Union County.

For his efforts, Tribble is The Times Athlete of the Week.

“(The opponents) let me shoot a lot more last week,” said Tribble, a three-year starter originally from Tampa, Fla. “That was pretty much it; they played back a lot and gave me room to shoot.”

Tribble’s transition to shooting guard was made possible because of Riverside’s new point guard, Kane Duncan, transferring in from Banks County. The addition was a welcome one for both Tribble and first-year coach Rico Zackery.

“When Kane came in he could control the game and slow it down a little more,” Zackery said. “And Tribble’s a better shooter than Kane. It’s easy for (Tribble) to catch and shoot, so it’s only smart to put the best shooter at the (shooting) guard.”

In last week’s wins the Eagles were without some key players in the low post, due to illness, and Zackery singled out his guard play for helping the team overcome that adversity.

“We just wanted to move the ball around and get open shots,” Zackery said. “We stressed that. And Tribble does a good job of getting open and he’ll knock that shot down. And once it’s falling, it’s falling and it won’t come out.”

The Eagles now move into the home stretch of the regular season, with six games left on the schedule before the region tournament begins Feb. 15. This week features crucial games against subregion foes Rabun County (6:30 tonight at Riverside) and Dawson County (7:30 p.m. Friday at Dawsonville).

This will be the Eagles first game this year against Rabun County (14-4, 3-0).

Quote of the Day: "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." Warren Buffet