Proud in defeat, Gulf's girls see bright future

WINTER HAVEN - They simulated themselves silly. Seven-on-five, sometimes eight-on-five. Coach Mike Quarto and assistant Paul Schulman even laced up, giving the starters four more flailing arms with which to contend.

Didn't work. Tuesday night, Quarto's arms flailed again - in exasperation.

No amount of practice gimmickry could replicate the stifling pressure Gulf's girls basketball team encountered Tuesday night at Winter Haven, where a running clock mercifully ticked down the final seconds of the program's greatest season.

Winter Haven, arguably the state's best girls team regardless of classification, was considerably bigger and faster. The Blue Devils flicked away balls from Bucs dribblers. They horned in on passing lanes. They did more rejecting than Simon Cowell.

"You cannot simulate that kind of pressure in practice," Quarto said after the Bucs' 68-29 defeat in this Class 4A-Region 3 semifinal.

This is the lone reason the Bucs were dragging as they headed back to their charter bus parked in front of Jack Deedrick Gymnasium. Fatigue had visibly set in somewhere during Winter Haven's game-closing 24-4 run.

For the better part of 32 minutes, the Bucs had been thrust into Winter Haven's breakneck tempo, engaging in 94-foot wind sprints that exhausted their collective lung capacity. But their heads remained high.

For all the turnovers the Blue Devils forced, including nine in Gulf's first 15 possessions, they couldn't strip the Bucs of their pride.

"There's nothing to be sad about today," sophomore point guard Dominique English said.

Indeed, the tears that normally accompany such a defeat were supplanted by smiles and hugs. No loss to a team that could run some Division II women's programs out of the gym was going to tarnish the Bucs' accomplishments of the last three months.

Only two seasons ago, 68-29 would've been the median margin of defeat for Gulf, winner of one game in the two years prior to Quarto's arrival in 2003.

But Quarto's hiring coincided with an infusion of young talent that could be described as both cyclical (three current starters were either freshmen or sophomores at Gulf) and fortuitous (another starter transferred from Mitchell).

Collectively, the players embraced Quarto's principles, strong on cohesion and kicking out the ball in transition. xTuesday night, Gulf (25-2) found itself two games removed from the 4A state tournament.

"Two years ago when we first started this, to where we are now, to be in a regional semifinal against the No. 1 team in the state, bar classification, is just tremendous," Quarto said. "I couldn't be prouder of my kids."

Population was Quarto's parting gift Tuesday. Winter Haven's bulging student body means the Blue Devils almost certainly will move to 5A next year, making the road to the final four a bit less treacherous for the Bucs.

Only two players - starting small forward Amy O'Brien and veteran backup Paris Parr - graduate. English (10 points Tuesday)will be another year removed from the offseason knee surgery that slowed her at the season's outset.

Center Tiara Cook (18.4 ppg, 10.7 rpg in regular season) and power forward Nicole Allison (9.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg) will be seniors.

The possibilities for '06? They can't be simulated.

"I'm proud of my teammates," English said. "There ain't nothing to say; we came out and did all we could do ... but we've got our heads high. Next year is a better year for us."