The Bolles girls basketball team continues to make history.
In their first visit to the state semifinals, the Bulldogs muscled up late and beat Somerset Academy Canyons 57-50 in the Class 3A state semifinals at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Friday morning. Bolles (25-5) will face Cardinal Mooney (23-9) on Saturday in the state championship.
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Cardinal Mooney has been close to a state championship before, losing in the title game four consecutive seasons.
Bolles head coach Kelly Stevenson won a state championship as a player with Nease in 1999. Her coach then, Sherri Anthony, is now an assistant with the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 12 in the second quarter and then flipped that and led by seven with five minutes left. Somerset surged at the finish to take a 50-49 lead with under a minute to play before Terrell McCoy tied things with a free throw to send it into overtime.
Bolles was flawless in the extra period, especially on defense. Somerset missed all eight shots from the field and the Bulldogs took the lead for good on a steal and bucket to help lead the way into the championship. Among Bolles’ major team sports (baseball, boys basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball), only girls basketball had yet to either reach a state semifinal or championship game. Girls lacrosse hasn’t either, although the Bulldogs have only fielded a team in that sport since 2013.
Four Bolles players reached double figures in scoring, with Abby Knauff (16) leading the way. McCoy had a monster game, pulling in 19 rebounds and scoring 14. Evie Freeman had 13 points and nine rebounds and Presley Norman added 10.
