St. Cloud defended its Orange Belt Conference girls basketball championship Friday, but it took four quarters of hard-fought, back-and-forth action for the game to be decided.
Senior point guard Danigzy Mantilla, who helped the Bulldogs (17-6) win a defensive-minded game over Gateway last year for the OBC title, did a little bit of all of it Friday -- defense, passing and running the offense -- in a 51-44 win over the Panthers (11-5) at Tohopekaliga High School.
Mantilla tallied seven rebounds, 10 assists and four steals, and of her 11 points, six came late in the game at the free throw line to salt the game, and another championship, away.
"It means a lot to all of us, especially the seniors, to play in a game against an opponent we respect," Mantilla said. "We knew they could shoot, it was our goal to have to have to go into the lane. I think our defense and our composure were the difference."
Both coaches involved called it a great game -- St. Cloud led after each quarter but by no more than four.
"Hats off to Gateway and Coach (Justin) Marino," SCHS Coach Chad Ansbaugh said. "We talk that the culture of the team shines through the point guard. Ziggy passed up shots for others, she grinds and does the little things."
Haley Collins is another one of the seniors. On a night where she led St. Cloud with 12 points despite first-half foul trouble, she called winning another conference title "Very important."
"We've all played together since sixth grade," she said. "We just work so hard together, physically and mentally we've gotten strong as a team."
Marino said he and his players loved the competition, going against the Bulldogs for a title.
"We had to get out of our element on defense in the second half, and we don't have all the healthy players to do that the whole time." he said. "Those are some experienced seniors over there, and I'm going at them with two sophomores."
And, go at it they did. The teams traded baskets through the first quarter, at St. Cloud held a 15-12 lead after Mantilla found Collins under the basket for a lay-up at the buzzer. Arianna Viera opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to make it 18-12, but then Gateway's Malayna Stevenson (game-high 14 points in her second game back from an ankle injury) and Evana Rivera went to work, hitting three three-pointers in the period, the last a minute before halftime that cut the lead to 24-23 at the break.
The teams traded the lead six times as they combined for nine 3s in the third quarter. A 9-3 Bulldogs run over the last two minutes gave St. Cloud a 42-38 lead entering the fourth quarter, and that stretched to 45-38 when Collins opened the fourth with a three-pointer. Karyna Rivera answered with a 3 of her own, and Alyssa Marino hit a free throw that made it 45-42 Bulldogs with 4:04 remaining. From there, the Bulldogs played turnover-free offense, keeping the ball for minutes at a time and denied Gateway the reasonable offensive chance needed to tie the game. The Panthers were forced to foul Mantilla three times in the final minute, and she calmly swished 6-of-6 foul shots.
In Friday's third place game, host Tohopekaliga (13-2) took down Celebration, 42-32. Poinciana beat Harmony and Osceola defeated Liberty in the fifth and seventh place games.
The regular season will continue for two more weeks. District tournament play starts Feb. 5.
