Several county girls basketball programs are off to very fast starts this year.
Gateway moved to 10-1 Tuesday, using a fast and furious third quarter to race by Orlando Christian Prep, 57-41. Junior center Malayna Stevenson (24 points) and senior guard Vanessa Diaz (22), each averaging over 20 points per game this season, combined for 16 of the Panthers' 24 third-quarter points. The game was tied at 16-16 going into halftime before Stevenson scored 10 and teammates Karli Cole, Diaz and Alyssa Marino combined for four three-pointers in the third.
Part of the success Tuesday was sharing the ball -- the Panthers had 14 assists on 19 field goals.
"Just made some halftime adjustments," GHS Coach Justin Marino said.
Diaz, the county's co-Player of the Year with Neri Moreau last year, said she's stepping it up to be a leader as a senior herself this year, and it shows with the team's record.
"It's the best start ever for Gateway," she said. "We've adjusted well to some new people in new roles. Coach puts us in positions to succeed."
This is a program that reached uncharted territory last year, coming up a bucket short of the state tournament in a 36-35 loss to Bishop Moore in the regional finals.
"Yeah we have a little chip on our shoulder about that," Diaz said.
"Sometimes, as the leaders, we have to push the pace a little more," Stevenson said.
St. Cloud, which also reached the regional finals last year in Class 6A, is off to a 7-1 start after wins over Osceola (4-5) and Liberty (0-9) in the last week. The only blemish is a loss to Lake Highland Prep, which hasn't lost to a Florida team yet this year. Juniors Haley Collins (15.4 points per game) and Emily Lockey (17) lead the scoring, but 11 players have seen time in every game this year.
The team left Friday morning for a game at Key West, then will play in a tournament at Melbourne High School during the winter break. Gateway is also in that tournament -- since they don't play in the regular season (many schools are saving those playing dates since there's an Orange Belt Conference tournament in January), if they reach the finals of it it'd be the only chance they'd face off outside of meeting in the OBCs.
But before that, in the 2023 portion of the schedule St. Cloud faces Hagerty, Holy Trinity and Palm Bay.
"We'll have a better idea of how good we might be after the holiday break," Bulldogs Coach Chad Ansbaugh said.
Harmony moved to 7-2 Thursday, matching its win total from the last two seasons combined, with a 56-52, double overtime victory at Orlando University.
"We were down six with a minute left, had to hit some big free throws late to tie it," Coach Paul Strauch said. "It's so good to see the girls who have been with us now knowing how to win, but we've got seven freshmen on varsity and some of them are playing a lot of minutes."
Strauch said the Longhorns have been getting leadership from senior Katie Davis and junior Faith Werner, but freshmen like Ellah Husbands, Dali Velez, Mya LaRocco and Emerson Aslan have been stepping up.
"And it's a different one every game doing something big to help us win," Strauch said. "It's such a great group of kids. It's fun to go to practice."
