On a night when Malayna Stevenson scored a game-high 26 points – including the 1,000th of her career -- the Gateway Panthers needed every one of them in order to score an impressive 66-60 win over Lake Mary Thursday.
The win lifted the Class 5A Lady Panthers to 15-4 on the season, broke a two-game losing streak and also gave them an impressive win over a 7A school that came into the contest with a 16-3 record.
“This was an important one for us for a lot of reasons,” Gateway coach Justin Marino said. “The loss last week to Central Florida Christian (the No. 1 ranked school in Class 2A and No. 18 ranked team in Florida for all classifications) wasn’t unexpected given their talent level, but the last Friday night’s road loss (47-38) to Lake Minneola was disappointing. I thought we matched up well with them and we simply did not show up.”
Against Lake Mary, the Panthers jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the game, but the Rams battled back to forge a 17-17 tie after one period. Although the score was knotted, Marino pointed out how important the period and the quick start were in the game’s outcome.
“We felt going in, they were going to play a triangle and two and try to take Vanessa (Diaz) and Malayna out of the game,” Marino said. “That’s pretty much what they did, but Karli (Cole) came out and hit two three-pointers at the beginning of the game and when Alyssa (Marino) followed with a quick three it forced them out of that defense early.”
Hot shooting by Lake Mary kept it close in the second period. Dakara Martine and Maylei Noreika combined for six three-pointers – several of which came after offensive rebounds as Gateway held a narrow 32-31 lead at the half.
“We’re not the fastest of teams so we play a lot of zone,” Marino said. “They did a great job of hitting their three-pointers, but it also created some problems because when you are sitting in a zone you also are susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds it sometimes creates confusion on who is supposed to get the ball. We made an adjustment to play more man-to-man in the second half and that helped.”
An early 7-2 run put Lake Mary up in the third and a couple of baskets in the paint by Ke’ma Parker made the lead standup as the Rams took a 47-44 lead into the final stanza. Only nine points from Stevenson in the period kept the Panthers in the game.
Stevenson and Diaz would then take control in the fourth period, combining for 15 points in the period -- outscoring the Rams 23-13 in the period. Diaz would score eight and Stevenson in the quarter, but it was spinning, driving layup by Evana Rivera that put Gateway ahead to stay at 60-58 and four points in the period from Marino – another freshman – that helped preserve the win.
“We have two freshmen out there starting, so it’s important that they keep their composure,” Marino added. “They both hit big shots down the stretch.”
The game was essentially won at the line. Lake Mary made more field goals in the game (23-20) and more three-pointers (11-6); but the Panthers made 20 of 27 free throws; while Lake Mary only went to the line for six free throws. Stephenson driving to the basket accounted for much of the discrepancy as she made 10 of 15 from the charity stripe.
In addition to Stevenson, Diaz had 14 points, Marino added nine and Cole had eight. Martine (23) and Noreika (16) reached double figures for the Rams.
Gateway’s win gives them momentum heading into next week’s Orange Belt Conference Championship Tournament. The Panthers have never won an OBC girls basketball title but will go into the tournament as the number one seed.
“In order to win OBCs we know we most likely will have to beat St. Cloud,” Marino said. “Our kids and their players have been competing against each other since middle school and we have a ton of respect for them. It’s going to be a great challenge, but a great opportunity too.”
