The WSHS girls basketball team has had one of the best seasons the program has seen in recent history. Standing tall with a 18-5 record before playoffs gave them the second seed in the district. This allowed them to advance past qualifiers and immediately move on to the semifinals to face Mainland High School. Hailing all the way from Daytona Beach, Mainland held a 12-10 record.
The game started off very close, with Winter Springs taking a two point lead heading into the second. Senior Sydney Hanson, started off well contributing seven of the 17 points WSHS scored. Winter Springs attacked Mainland’s weakness which laid in their transition defense, getting multiple fast break layups throughout the second quarter. This allowed Winter Springs to go on a six point run. By the end of the first half, Winter Springs increased their lead to four, with the score set at 31-27. The second half started off slow for both teams, as there was no score up until around the four minute mark where senior Heaven Sims was able to get two buckets in a row. However, Mainland immediately answered back with a 3-pointer.
By the end of the third, Mainland had taken the lead, with the score being 38-42. If Winter Springs wanted to move on in the playoffs, they needed to fix previous mistakes and start playing better as a team. That’s exactly what started to happen in the fourth quarter. The team had started the quarter with a big 5-point run, taking the lead. With three minutes left in the fourth, the Lady Bears started playing excellent defense and hit crucial shots to grow their lead. Sophomore Summer Mason, unfortunately went down with a head injury after a collision with a Mainland player going for the ball. Per concussion protocol rules, Mason had to sit out for the rest of the game. Winter Springs had a five-point lead with 36 seconds left in the game, after multiple steals, the Bears scored 6 more points off layups.
The game ended with a score of 59-48, the win punched Winter Springs’ ticket to the district championship game to play Lake Howell.
