When City of Life Academy made the short ride over on U.S. 192 to play Gateway a boys and girls basketball doubleheader Monday, the girls game was a matchup of what has been, and what could be.
The Warriors won the 2018 Class 2A state championship, and are rebuilding — or reloading. The Panthers have never even won an Orange Belt Conference championship, but might be the best team in Osceola County this year.
Those paths crossed Monday, and it was Gateway (6-3) coming out on top by filling the hoops with threepointers – 20 of them – turning a close game early into an 88-45 rout.
Vanessa Diaz and Madison Vazquez each scored 25 points and had seven three-pointers apiece, helping turn what was a 12-12 game late in the first quarter into a rout that broke a three-game losing streak.
“We did a good job of making them tonight,” Coach Justin Marino said of his team’s shooting night. “I’m not going to say we live and die by the threepointer, because we’ve won games this year going inside to the rim, but it’s definitely our strength. We’re not going to out-athlete any teams, we’ve just got girls who are game smarts and react to the play.”
Senior point guard Neri Moreau, who scored 11 points and added three three-pointers – all in the third quarter – said the Panthers’ time is now because of teamwork.
“We’re together,” said Moreau, one of just two senior Lady Panthers. “We execute Coach (Justin) Marino’s offense better than we ever have before. We move the ball around more, there’s no selfish players, we can penetrate, we can kick out and shoot.”
They’ll take on Seminole at home Friday before playing in holiday tournaments during the break before and after Christmas.
Warriors Coach Ray Buggs admitted his team isn’t what people have been used to seeing.
“It’s okay, we’re building it up,” he said. “We did it years ago on the way to winning that state title. This looks familiar to it did back then, so I’m not worried, we just have to keep teaching.”
After the girls game, the boys teams took the court and provided plenty of intrigue to take the place of the offense, especially in the second half when Gateway turned a sevenpoint halftime deficit into a 57-51 victory.
“Our effort level on defense in the first half wasn’t very good, and our offensive looks weren’t bad but we just weren’t hitting anything,” said GHS Coach Travis James. “Whatever it was, they kids made a statement and came out of halftime better.”
Down 31-24 at the half, the Panthers (5-3) opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run, getting big buckets from point guard Jeremy Velez and Gabe Melendez. It was tied at 39 headed to the fourth quarter. It was still tied, 43-43, with 4:37 left after Gateway and the Warriors (4-2) traded baskets, but the Panthers got huge scores on drives through the lane by Jorden Birmingham (12 points) and Aaron Campbell, who led GHS with 14 points off the bench, and the Panthers led, 49-42 with two minutes left. Down the stretch, Dimas Cervantes (11 points) coolly went 6-for-6 from the free throw line to seal the game.
James said his deep rotation of eight players solidified their roles Monday after Velez sat much of the fourth quarter with a nagging leg problem.
“Our big guys played well, Aaron probably had his best game as a Panther, and I liked how we contested their shots in the second half,” he said. “We’re figuring it out, and we’ll have to, we have a big one (tonight).”
That “big one” is a home game against rival Osceola, who is 6-0 after a 63-51 win over Celebration Monday. It leads into six games the Panthers will play during the holiday break.
