Lady Bulldogs maul Lady Pirates 75-9
Bulldogs maul Pirates, 75-9This round of the girls’ basketball 9-Mile War easily went to Zephyrhills as the Bulldogs took a bite out of the Pirates 75-9 to improve to 8-2 on the season.
Juniors Madison Driggers and Mikayla Cintron each finished with 16 points and Maya Llanes added 11. All nine Bulldogs on the roster scored in the game. Zephyrhills scored 28 unanswered points and the defense held Pasco scoreless the entire second half to put the icing on the cake for coach Chris Smith’s birthday.
“It’s a game we should win and a game to do whatever we wanted to,” said Smith. “It is a rivalry game and we needed to treat it as such. That was our mentality. They knew what it meant to me. When I was in school, it was a big deal and it still is.”
With the first half of the season in the books, the Lady Bulldogs are off to one of their best starts in school history. Last season the Bulldogs finished 18-8 after a 6-4 start.
“Being honest, this isn’t where we should be,” Smith said. “We should be undefeated at this moment. Two of our tougher games, we should have won. We had every chance to win each game we lost.
“I don’t think anyone has actually beat us yet. Once we get past beating ourselves, we’ll be a really good team.”
In the first 10 games of the season, Coach Chris Smith’s Lady Bulldogs average nearly 70 points per game and the tenacious defense has allowed just 24.4 ppg. The Bulldogs two losses were close affairs losing 68-63 to Sunlake and 55-49 to Wiregrass Ranch.
The Bulldogs have three players in double figures with Maya Llanes leading the way with 20.9 ppg. Mikayla Cintron is averaging 12.1 points and Ashauna Jones is averaging 10.7 points.
“Every win, whether it’s a blowout or close game is great because you can sense the close bond on this team,” said Cintron. “Especially when it’s our rival, it’s special. This rivalry has been going on for years and we made sure we carry it on for years to come.”