By Ken Jackson
For the News-Gazette

Before this year, the Harmony girls basketball program had never had over-the-top success.

The Lady Horns had never won the Orange Belt Conference, or a regional playoff game.

They’d never beaten Osceola. They’d never won 20 games.

The Longhorns checked all of those off this season, during Marie Gilbert’s senior year.

Coincidence?

Gilbert, a basketball junkie but a standout in other sports -- she was the county flag football player of the year in 2011 -- was the driving force behind Harmony’s 23-5 season, district title and run to the Class 7A Region 2 finals.

Gilbert averaged 17.5 points, seven rebounds, 3.1 steals and two assists per game from whatever position Coach Paul Strauch asked her to play.

Her ability, versatility and passion earned her a place as the Osceola News-Gazette Girls Basketball Player of the Year for the first time. She shares the honor with Poinciana’s Kadesia Johnson.

It didn’t come easy, Gilbert, who ended her hoops career with 1,317 points, said

“This year I had to step up and be a leader, and around me things really clicked,” she said. “But being so confident in Coach Strauch’s ability to lead as well took a lot off my shoulders. That gave me the chance to focus on getting better individually. I conquered some things in my fundamentals.”

While the Longhorns lost the regional final to Haines City on their own floor, denying Gilbert a second trip to a state tournament this school year (she was an outside hitter on the Final Four volleyball team), she took solace that the team finally accomplished big things on the hardwood before she graduated.

“I’m so happy we ended with a good season. We exceeded the expectations of everyone outside of our own locker room,” she said. “We were upset after losing the last game, but afterward (Strauch) reminded us we were 13-1 at home.”

Strauch said having the 5-11 Gilbert on the floor made a lot of different offensive schemes possible.

“Poinciana and Osceola overall probably had an edge on us athletically, which is why I’m glad we had Marie,” he said. “She can play all the positions, and she’s a matchup problem. Put a small girl on her and we can put her in the post; put a big girl on her and she’ll drive around her on the perimeter.

“She was dominant in many ways. If she wasn’t scoring, she’d be finding an open player to keep the offense moving. She knows how to break down the press. And defensively, she played the other team’s best player in the fourth quarter.”

Gilbert was a double-digit scorer all four years, but Strauch said he saw her refine her game this season.

“Her junior year, what I asked her to do probably wasn’t easy,” he said. “But she played on a great AAU team over the summer, which gave her confidence in what we were doing this year.  She hasn’t completely reached her potential.”

Gilbert said the learning curve wasn’t as sharp this year as it had to be last year, which led to a little bit more creativity.

“Last year we had to buy into his system,” she said. “This year we made it work and he bought into us and added some more fast break ability.”

Gilbert has been busy since basketball ended playing flag football and investigating opportunities to play basketball in college.

She recently selected Rolllins College as the place to continue her career.

“I’m just making sure I embrace the opportunity,” she said. “Rarely in life do you get time to do all the things you want to.”