By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach regrouped from a sluggish start to top visiting Coral Springs, 44-35, in the Class 9A regional girls basketball semifinal on Tuesday night.

After scoring just one point in the first quarter, the Bucks outscored Coral Springs, 18-8, in the second quarter to open up a 6-point halftime lead. The Bucks cut the lead in half heading into the final quarter before Deerfield held on for the win and avoided the upset bid. It was the team’s fourth straight win over Coral Springs this season and 25th straight against no defeats dating back all the way to 2006 and this is the first-ever postseason meeting between the two schools.

 Deerfield Beach defeated Coral Springs, 70-27, and 55-39 during the season and 47-35 for the district title.

“Our next game we are going to have to come out and do a better job in practice on Wednesday and Thursday getting ready for (Boca Raton),” said Deerfield Beach coach Tami Vaughn, whose team will host the Bobcats on Friday at 7 p.m. 

“We just have to watch film and go back to the drawing board and see what we need to do, if we have to change up the lineup,” Vaughn added. “We have to go back to the drawing board to see what we need to do to finish out.”

Deerfield Beach senior DenAsia Mitchell scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Bucks (18-9).

The Bucks won the District 11-9A title for the fourth time in five years and second year in a row. The lone year they didn’t win it was in 2017 when star guard Mitchell tore her ACL and was lost for the postseason. The Bucks are on a four-game winning streak since a 68-64 overtime loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the quarterfinals of the Big 8 tournament.

 Deerfield Beach won state titles in 2003 and 2004 and was runner-up in 2002 and 2005. They lost to Miami, 48-31, in last year’s Class 9A state semifinals. 

Ely falls to St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas (21-6) outscored visiting Blanche Ely, 37-21, in the second half en route to a 72-52 victory in the Class 8A girls basketball regional semifinal in Ft. Lauderdale.

Blanche Ely, which finished the year at 21-9, lost to the Raiders, 66-61, 70-64, and 58-46 in the district championship before Tuesday night’s loss.

Raiders’ junior guard Bella LaChance, a Vanderbilt commit, led four Raiders in double figures with 20 points, while Tigers sophomore guard Ja’Leah Williams kept her team in the contest as she scored 27 points and hauled down 11 rebounds.

“We had a real rough third quarter,” Ely coach James Polk said. St. Thomas outscored the Tigers, 17-10, in the period.

Pompano

golf results

The Pompano Beach Women’s Golf Association held a Low Net (with a twist) tournament on Jan. 29.

 The results are as follows: A Flight: 1. Kathy Stewart, 67; 2. Abby Ages, 72; B Flight: 1. Janet Stuart, 69; 2. Kathy Dunn, 78; C Flight: 1. Lynn Goodman, 74; 2. Sue Bardhi, 75; D Flight: 1. Polly Rutnik, 77; 2. Roseanna Nixon 78. 

In the Pompano Beach Women’s Golf Association tournament on Jan. 22, Mimi Denoma shot an 84 to take the A Flight. Marianne Weber was second with a 91, while Sandra Gore was third with a 93. 

 Other results included B Flight: 1. Janet Stuart, 88; 2. Abby Ages, 97 (won tiebreaker); C Flight: 1. Patt Sessa, 98; 2. Ann Symonds, 101; 3. Lynn Goodman, 104 (won tiebreaker); D Flight: 1. Roseanna Nixon, 107 (won tiebreaker); 2. Verna Smith, 107.

The Pompano Beach Men’s Golf Association held a Two Best Ball of Foursome tournament on Jan. 30. The net score results are 1. James Greeley, Dave Hall, Jeffrey Raymond, Bert Welage, 112; 2. Oscar Aleman, Robert Blau, Roe Messner, Don Worrell, 115; 3. Tom Harrington, George Lyons, Paul Murphy, Carlo Spirito, 116; 4. Paul Berning, Andy Burt, Brian Nixon, Neil Wilson, 118 (won match of cards); 5. Jim King, Jim Muschany, Robert Raser, Roy Wilhoite, 118 (won match of cards).

 The closest to the pin winner at hole No. 15 was Terry Denoma.

 The Pompano Beach Men’s Golf Association also held a One Best Ball of Foursome tournament on Feb. 6. Net Score: 1. Tom Breur, Dave Dowling, Tom Pawelczyk, Robert Raser, 52; 2. Jim DiCamillo, Mike Grimaldi, Roe Messner, Jim Muschany, 53 (won tiebreaker); 3. Terry Denoma, Jim Dunn, Scott Feinman, Bart Valerio, 53 (won tiebreaker); 4. Lee Hammer, Tom Joyce, Dick Steffen, Bob VanZandt, 55 (won tiebreaker); 5. Andy Burt, Dave Danielian, Dave Hall, Gene Stoller, 55 (won tiebreaker); 6. Chuck Brown, John Feeley, Bob Mascatello, Tim O’Brien, 56.

 The closest to the pin winner at hole No. 17 was Frank Cutrone.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach football coach Allen Jackson hoped to use last Friday night’s regular season finalé against St. Thomas Aquinas as a tuneup for this week’s Class 8A regional quarterfinal game at Cypress Bay.

What he discovered was there was still some tinkering to do as the visiting Bucks went back to the early season mistakes that led to a 0-3 start as it dropped a 45-0 decision to St. Thomas Aquinas. Deerfield Beach (5-4) had seemed to put those miscues aside in recent weeks as it rolled to five consecutive wins and advanced as the No. 2 seed in the district tiebreaker.

The Raiders scored 31 points off four Deerfield Beach turnovers and a muffed punt to record its second consecutive shutout and third of the season.

Quarterback John O’Korn passed for 138 yards and ran for two scores to lead the way.

The running back tandem of Aeron McNeal (15 carries, 38 yards) and Brandon Powell (13 carries, 36 yards) were held in check most of the night.

“We knew we couldn’t make mistakes against a team like this,” Jackson said. “They are one of the best teams in the state.”

Jackson admitted his team suffered from playing three times in a week – an emotional win over then-undefeated South Plantation to force the three-way district tiebreaker, defeating Taravella before falling to South Plantation in Monday’s tiebreaker, and then playing St. Thomas Aquinas in a road game.

“It took a lot out of us going back-to-back two weeks in a row,” Jackson said.

“You just have to take care of bruises. We’ve seen Cypress Bay before so we have to get ready for them.”

The Bucks fell to Cypress Bay, 29-6, in the season opener; however, Jackson still believes his team can go deep in the playoffs.

“The kids just started believing in what we were trying to do,” Jackson said. “After the Taravella (regular season) game, we just went back to the basics. We decided to go back to the drawing board. We have two special backs back there so we are going to run it a little bit. We didn’t know if we were a running team or a passing team. Now, we have our identity.” Jackson gushes when he speaks of Powell, who is fourth in the county in rushing behind South Plantation’s Alex Collins (145 carries, 1263 yards, 14 TDs). Powell has 140 carries for 1,116 yards and 13 scores, while McNeal has 112 carries for 813 yards and 7 scores. “Brandon, oh my goodness,”

Jackson said of his junior running back. “He’s special. He’s a great kid, who gives you everything he’s got. He’s going to play hard until the final whistle blows every game.”