Lady Sailors Close Chapter in Rivalry, Advance to Class 6A-Region 2 Title Game

Perhaps, the girls basketball team wanted to prolong the moment.

With district reclassification on the horizon, the Lady Sailors won't play a game as significant as Tuesday night's Class 6A-Region 2 semifinal against city rival for some time. Seemingly in control after two early fourth-quarter baskets by Tarayn Burns, which gave it a 12-point lead, host Sarasota did just enough from the foul line to preserve a 41-34 win over the Lady Rams.

"We hung on in the truest sense of the term," Sarasota head coach Rob Jutras said.

Sarasota (20-8) closed out the second quarter with a 13-0 run that gave it a 22-15 halftime lead. Tylar Tracy scored eight of her 13 points over the final 3:52 of the first half, which saw Riverview senior standout Ashley Losch pick up two fouls and the Lady Rams commit five turnovers.

The Lady Rams did not convert a field goal for more than 16 minutes after Losch gave her team a 13-9 lead with 4:54 left in the second quarter. Riverview did not help its cause by missing 11 free throws during the course of the game.

Burns did her part to extend Sarasota's season and finished with 12 points after converting three free throws in the game's final minute. However, the Lady Sailors missed seven shots from the charity stripe during the fourth quarter.

The victory sends Sarasota into Saturday night's region championship against visiting Orlando Dr. Phillips, which recorded a 53-45 win over Olympia in Tuesday night's other semifinal. 

"It's bittersweet," Sarasota head coach Rob Jutras said. "This is probably the last meaningful game (between the two programs) for awhile. In a meaningful game, my kids came out and did what they knew they had to do. That's the real story. We wanted to end their season, and we didn't want them to end ours."

Over the better part of the last decade, the rivalry between the Riverview and Sarasota girls basketball program has been one of the most competitive in all of the area's high school sports. The two have played for a district championship in Class 6A five out of the last seven seasons, but Tuesday night's game was the first time that the two teams met in the state-series playoffs.

Sarasota, which split the two regular-season meetings between the two and registered  a 46-40 overtime victory in the District 7 championship game on Feb. 4, will be reclassified as a Class 7A program the next two seasons. The Lady Sailors will be in a district with Braden River, Manatee, Charlotte, Port Charlotte and Venice.

The Lady Rams, who ended the 2010-11 campaign at 24-5, will be a member of Class 8A-District 8 with North Port, Palm Harbor University and Tarpon Springs East Lake the next two seasons.

"It's just a situation where two of the top 16 teams in (what is currently) the state's biggest classification are from Sarasota County," first-year Riverview head coach Scott Hall said. "That's something that we matched up with each other. We showed the other night against Hillsborough County teams (in the Class 6A-Region 2 quarterfinals) that Sarasota County can be competitive with the other counties in the state.

"Next year with both being in different districts, hopefully we will have two teams make it to the regional finals."