Sheals, Mainland race past Spruce Creek for Five Star Conference Championship

PORT ORANGE — Ten minutes after the final buzzer, Anovia Sheals still had not held the trophy.

Then again, none of the Mainland Buccaneers had before Friday.

With a 67-45 victory over Spruce Creek at Atlantic High School, that changed. The Bucs (10-11) claimed their first Five Star Conference title under fifth-year head coach Brandon Stewart and knocked off the defending Volusia-Flagler champs (15-7).

“I’m proud of my team,” Stewart said. “I think that this game has always been known as a rivalry game. Sometimes, it brings more emotions than usual games, but I think they stayed poised.”

A lot of that spawned from the efforts of Sheals, a senior forward who dropped a game-high 30 points.

Sheals scored seven of the contest’s first nine points, helping Mainland to an immediate 9-0 run after tipoff. She finished the first quarter with 11.

Spruce Creek sophomore Anastasia Neal sank a 3-pointer and junior Sanaii Gaines scored a basket in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to cut into the Bucs’ lead to 16-12. There, sophomore Kailani Merrell drilled a 3-pointer to drag the Hawks to within one, 16-15. But that was the closest they got.

Mainland sophomore Ronneisha Thomas responded with her own 3 and then went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line on the ensuing possession to push the score to 20-15.

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Up 22-19, the Bucs closed the period on an 11-5 run, including six points from Sheals, to carry 33-24 into the halftime locker room.

“I felt like, when they were on their run, we got a little frustrated,” Sheals said. “We started slowing down and getting pressure on us. But I felt like I did a good job telling them, ‘We’re fine, we’re fine. We’ve still got 16 more minutes.’ Just keeping my team ready and focused on the game because every team is going to have their runs.”

Mainland boosted its lead back to double digits with the first two buckets of the second half — 3-pointers by Sheals and senior Tia Dobson. It kept its advantage above 10 the rest of the way.

The Bucs ended the third quarter with a 47-34 lead. They embarked on a 17-7 fourth-quarter stretch to clinch the hardware.

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Aside from Sheals’ 30 points, junior Olivia Olson, who transferred from Spruce Creek to Mainland, recorded 12 points.

For the Hawks, Merrell posted a team-best 13 points.  Senior Yanija Lawson had nine.

“I thought it was a good game,” said Spruce Creek coach Kelvin Hamm, who has lost to Mainland just twice in his 12-year career. “We didn’t play our best game, but it is what it is. We’re a young team — freshmen and sophomores. We’re going to learn and get better from it. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about.”

Both squads ranked inside the state’s top 50 in the latest Florida High School Athletic Association poll.

The Hawks paced the area at No. 31. They travel to Central Florida Christian for a 7:30 p.m. matchup Monday. Mainland sat 41st. It will host Dr. Phillips at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. District tournaments kick off in less than two weeks.

“My team is mentally prepared and physically ready and emotionally stable,” Stewart said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Girls basketball: Anovia Sheals leads Mainland to Five Star title