Highlanders Waste No Time, Bury Bloodhounds

By MIKE COBB

LEDGER CORRESPONDENT

LAKE WALES | The two times Lake Wales played district-foe Auburndale during the season, Auburndale was able to stay with the Highlanders for a half before Lake Wales pulled away in the second half.

Friday night, in the Class 5A, District 10 championship, the Highlanders didn't wait until the second half to pull away. They used their half-court trap to build a 17-point halftime lead and cruised to a 90-53 win giving the Highlanders (23-4) the district championship for the second year in a row.

"We didn't want to get the big head or get complacent," Lake Wales point guard Russell Wilson said. "We did what we had to do, what our coaches told us to do at practice."

Both teams advance to the Class 5A regional quarterfinals next Thursday. Auburndale (18-7) will play at Rockledge, the Class 5A-9 winner, while Lake Wales, the No. 1-ranked team in the state in Class 5A, will be at home against Merritt Island, the 5A-9 runner-up. 

The Highlanders beat Auburndale by 24 points in each of their two regular-season games.

"The first two games, we came out kind of slow against Auburndale and they stayed with us for the first half," said Lake Wales' Alante Fenner, who scored 16 points. "Coach (Washington) told us to come out and play hard the first half and don't let them catch up."

Fenner, Wilson, Douglas Brooks and Marcel White combined to make 12 3-pointers. 

"They're such a well-rounded team," Auburndale coach Eric Robinson said. "They can shoot it, then can run, they can jump, they can do some of everything. They look like the best team in (Class) 5A."