(WEEKI WACHEE)- Weeki Wachee, arguably the best girls basketball team in Hernando County, isn’t looking to just make some noise in the Class 6A, District 6 tournament coming up. The Hornets are taking aim at making a deep postseason run on the heels of the program’s best season in school history.
The Hornets boast an impressive record of 22-2 and have earned themselves the overall No. 1 seed in the 6A-6 tourney next week, which will take place at Crystal River High School. Weeki Wachee will have to stave off the likes of Nature Coast Technical and Crystal Rivers to nab a district crown, but Mike Munroe’s bunch seems up to the challenge.
In the early years for Weeki Wachee, many teams looked forward to playing the Hornets in hopes of picking up an easy blowout victory. The complete opposite has happened this season, with the Hornets having some trouble scheduling teams for the regular season. Munroe believes that as the team continued to make strides and pickup victories, it has built up a respect by programs around the Tampa Bay area.
Munroe’s squad has higher hopes than just winning the district championship, as the Hornets are aiming to make a deep playoff run in Class 6A and Weeki Wachee certainly has some of the veteran-laden players to do so. Weeki Wachee’s roster is made up of just one freshman, six juniors and three seniors. With a heavily sided group of upperclassmen, the Hornets know the window of opportunity is here to make a postseason push.
One team that poses a viable threat to Weeki Wachee’s chances to runaway away with a district championship is Nature Coast, whom in the last two meetings has made things uncomfortably close against the Hornets. After Weeki Wachee won the initial matchup between the two schools, the Hornets narrowly squeaked by with a 32-29 win back on Jan. 3rd in the Hernando High School Christmas Tournament and then the Sharks nabbed a decisive 49-39 win nearly a couple weeks later.
The Hornets have a chance to earn themselves the title as the best girl’s basketball program in Hernando County, as both Nature Coast and Springstead have been the more well known clubs because of longevity of the schools. Weeki Wachee got a taste of the postseason last year when it upended Holiday Anclote 65-50 in the opening round before being defeated by district rival Crystal River 51-48.
A district championship for the team will mean sustained success over a two-year period and with several juniors slated to return, there’s no reason Weeki Wachee won’t be able to make another run at a 20-win season and notch another postseason berth to its belt.