The Gateway Panthers claimed their first girls basketball district title in school history with some gritty defense and a pretty special display of free throw shooting.
The host Panthers were 24-for-28 from the line, led by junior center Malayna Stevenson, who was a cool 17-for-17 (and hit iron only once) and scored a game-high 19 points with the benefit of just one field goal, as the top-seeded Panthers rolled past Jones, 51-34, to take the District 5A-7.
Gateway (21-6, best record in school history) will host a regional playoff game on Thursday -- and host any other games beyond that as the Region 2 No. 1 seed. Brackets will be released this weekend.
After a slow start against Jones' (12-14) aggressive, athletic defense -- the Tigers led 10-9 after one quarter -- Gateway found a groove, outscoring the visitors 34-16 over the second and third quarters.
"It's humbling because we've become a good team, but we've needed our game (to come together) in the championship," said GHS Coach Justin Marino, who watched his team lose district title games that were on the road. "This year we earned the right for that game to be here. We're like 15-1, and we lost in overtime. We've played some pretty good competition here.
"I knew their advantage would be rebounding, and ours would be guards who can handle the ball and pass and beat their press. We were overprepared. It was just a case of, can we rebound enough."
In between Stevenson's automatic trips to the line, senior guard Vanessa Diaz hit clutch buckets on her way to scoring 18 points.
"We spent two weeks preparing for this game," Diaz said. "They're aggressive, so Coach was telling us, just keep attacking. Malayna and I took that into account."
Thanks to a court-long pass and a lay-up at the first-quarter buzzer, Jones led 10-9 -- for the last time. Karli Cole hit a three-pointer to open the second quarter, starting a 9-0 run, and after the Panthers outscored the Tigers 14-4 in the quarter, Gateway took a 23-14 lead into halftime. Despite Jones scoring the first five points of the third quarter, the Panthers were never really threatened. Diaz answered that run with a three-pointer, and freshman Evanna Rivera and Stevenson, who kept going to the line and converting as Jones kept fouling, combined for 15 points in the third quarter. It was 43-26 headed to the fourth quarter, when Gateway stretched out possessions to kill the clock and, finally, earn that trophy.
"I knew I didn't miss, but I had no idea it was 17," Stevenson said of her night at the line, in a game she said her team had to have. "It's exciting because in past years we lost in the (district) championship. As long as we keep playing aggressive, and we listen to (Coach) Marino, we'll be good."
