Strawberry Crest beat Bartow on Feb. 13 to set up Tuesday’s semifinal against Winter Haven.
The Strawberry Crest Chargers started their latest run through regionals with games against a pair of Polk County teams.
First, Crest hosted Bartow in the Feb. 13 6A-Region 2 quarterfinal and cruised to a 63-39 win over the Yellow Jackets. The Chargers’ offense took over in the first and third quarters (19 and 16 points, respectively) and their defense held Bartow to single-digit scoring in the second and fourth quarters (seven and nine points, respectively) in a complete team effort.
Crest did, however, get a big spark from a great performance by point guard Taylor Butler, who scored 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting and did much of her damage to Bartow in the paint in the third quarter. Fellow senior Megan Watson was also an x-factor, scoring 18 with six rebounds, six assists and six steals.
That win set up a home game against Winter Haven on Tuesday night, in which the Chargers took a 70-51 loss to the Blue Devils.
Winter Haven took a 19-9 lead in the first quarter, but the Chargers chipped away and cut their lead down to 45-37 after three quarters. Crest outscored the visitors, 28-26, in the second and third quarters. Unfortunately for the Chargers, the Blue Devils’ fourth quarter was its most productive of the game and they scored 25 points to build a commanding lead.
Now that the Chargers have been eliminated from the postseason, the area basketball season is officially over.
