Jaelyn Bonilla’s three-pointer with 1:16 remaining gave the Lady Bulldogs its first lead, and
Danigzy Mantilla made four consecutive free throws down the stretch as St. Cloud’s girls basketball team upset Gateway, 60-55, Tuesday night, denying the favored Panthers their first Orange Belt Conference championship in school history.
Gateway, who fell to 15-5 with the loss, entered the game with a perfect 6-0 record in OBC play and needed only Tuesday’s win to claim the title. St. Cloud, who went to 12-6 with the win, remained perfect in conference play (5-0) and can clinch their 11th OBC crown with wins over Osceola (3-7) on Jan. 18 and Liberty (2-8) on Jan. 29.
“With the growth of the county and the addition of new schools, many of which are playing in different classes, some of the county coaches don’t pay a lot of attention to the OBC titles,” St. Cloud Coach Chad Ansbaugh said. “But I was born on a dirt road in this county and it means something to me and by the reaction of both teams tonight, I think it means a lot to the players too.”
In the first half it looked like Gateway would run away with the game. Neri Moreau and Malayna Stephenson both scored seven first-quarter points as the Panthers grabbed a 23-13 lead. Moreau added five more in the second and Vanessa Diaz hit a couple of three-pointers as Gateway extended the advantage to 12 at the half, 38-26.
Mantilla and Emily Lockett managed to keep the Bulldogs in the contest during the first half, combining for 15 points, 11 rebounds and a couple of steals.
Haley Collins made two quick buckets to start the third quarter, and Mantilla hit a jumper as St. Cloud cut the lead to 38-32, but Stephenson hit a three-pointer and Moreau scored off a steal to put the lead back to 12.
“At that point I thought we might be in a little trouble,” Ansbaugh said. “We cut the lead to six but they came right back on us.”
But from that point, it was all St. Cloud. Collins scored five points and dominated under the glass with six rebounds and a block and Mantilla added seven points in the quarter as St. Cloud closed to within five at 50-45 at the end of three quarters.
Shooting from both teams cooled off in the final stanza, but St. Cloud chipped away with three-pointers from Bonilla and Mantilla. Gateway clung to a narrow 55-54 lead before Bonilla’s second three-pointer of the quarter put the Bulldogs ahead for the first time in the game.
Forced to foul, the Panthers put St. Cloud on the line three consecutive times for one-and-one attempts in the final minute. Although the Bulldogs missed the front end all three times, Lockett and Collins got offensive rebounds twice as St. Cloud managed to maintain possession.
With time running out, Gateway missed three shots in the final 30 seconds and Mantilla knocked down four consecutive free throws for the final margin of victory.
“Disappointing, the bottom line and they came out with a lot of energy and their best players came to play and we were flat. With the game on the line, we simply did not make the plays we needed to make down the end,” Panthers head coach Justin Marino said. “Moving forward we have a lot tougher games remaining on the schedule and we need to understand we need to bring the energy every night.”
Mantilla led all scorers with 23 and added 12 rebounds, while Locket added 14 and Collins had 11 with 13 rebounds and a block.
“As usual, Danzy (Mantilla) was all over the place,” Ansbaugh said of his sophomore. “She had that big first quarter but also had three turnovers in the first few minutes of the game. She plays so hard all the time and makes a ton of plays though, so you tend to forget about the negative.”
Stephenson led Gateway with 20 points, Diaz had 16 and Moreau chipped in 14.
Both teams are extremely young. Sophomores and freshman accounted for 58 of St. Cloud’s 60 points; while underclassmen accounted for 41 of Gateway’s 55 points.
St. Cloud’s next game is Tuesday at Osceola to protect its new-found lead in the OBC race. Gateway hosts a solid Faith Christian (17-3, beat St. Cloud 67-56 last week) squad out of Orlando on Friday at 6 p.m.
