Last season was historic for the Gateway Lady Panthers basketball team. Not only did it set a school record with 26 wins, but the team made a deep postseason run leading to a second trip to the Class 5A Final Four in four years.
Along the way, the Panthers dominated Osceola County opposition, going 5-0 and winning those games by an average of 55 points.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Panthers dominated the Osceola News Gazette’s All-County Team with four first-team selections, the 2025-26 Player of the Year and our 2025-26 Coach of the Year.
Leading the way was point guard Alyssa Marino. A four-year starter, Marino repeats as the Osceola News-Gazette Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She finished her senior season averaging 13.2 points per game and more than six assists per game.
In her four seasons as the starting point guard, Gateway went 88-25. The Embry-Riddle signee finishes with 1,427 career points, 359 rebounds, 246 steals and a county-record 675 assists.
Marino’s work ethic made her a standout. Her father Justin, who was her coach at Gateway as well as middle school and travel ball teams recalled, “When she was in kindergarten, she loved ice cream. I told her the only way she would get ice cream is if she shot 50 medicine balls a day. She would just do it. A couple of years later in the summer after second grade, she told me she wanted to be great and said she was going to set her alarm for 6 a.m. every day. She said she wanted me to take her to the YMCA and practice basketball. I sort of smirked and said to myself, sure, we’ll see how long that lasts. But every single morning that summer, she was pounding on my door at 6 a.m. and telling me it was time to get up. She practiced every day that summer from 7-9 a.m.”
“It’s an honor but it’s never been about the awards, it’s always been about the journey. Playing at Gateway has been a great experience and we have had success. Now it’s time to move on see what the next chapter will bring,” Alyssa said. The selection of Marino was not a slam dunk. Sophomore teammate Ashlynn Day led the county with a 21.8 ppg average and contributed 10.6 rebounds per game in her second highschool season. A prodigy who played two years of varsity basketball as a sixth and seventh grader at a small private school, Day has already scored 1,709 career varsity points with two seasons of eligibility left.
Justin Marino, who announced he was stepping down as Gateway coach after the season, is our Coach of the Year.
“It’s going to be different watching her from the stands next year,” Justin said about Alyssa. “I’ve been her coach since she’s been five years old, including YMCA, eight years of AAU, three of middle school and four of high school. Between her shooting ability, her next-level work ethic, and her natural competitiveness she has all the tools necessary to be successful at the next level.”
All-County Girls Basketball
FIRST TEAM
Alyssa Marino, Sr., Gateway (13.5 ppg, 6 apg)
Ashlynn Day, So., Gateway (21.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 3.5 spg)
Evanna Rivera, Sr., Gateway (8.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg)
YaYa D’Amore, Fr., Gateway (10.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
Evelyn Juden, Jr., Celebration (15.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg)
SECOND TEAM
Jayme Montanez, Sr., Harmony; Sanaa Charles, Sr., Tohopekaliga; Emerson Aslan, Sr., Harmony; Natalia Calderon, Sr., Poinciana; Marianna Collado, Sr., Harmony
