Panthers’ run for a ring starts Thursday at 4 p.m.

The Gateway Panthers are headed to the girls basketball Final Four for the first time in school history. They will play for the Class 5A state girls basketball championship at the RP Funding Center Thursday at 4 p.m. in a state semifinal against Daytona Beach Mainland (19-8).

It’s the Panthers’ first regional championship and maiden voyage to Lakeland.

Although the teams have not met this year, they have played four common opponents. Mainland has gone 4-0 against those opponents, the Panthers 5-0 — including a pair of victories over Eau Gallie.

“They’ve got a really strong ‘big’ (Anovia Sheals), she can finish around the basket with both hands, she’s very good, and good guards (Tia Dobson and Jordan Boddie) who handle the ball very well and play pressure defense,” GHS Coach Justin Marino said of the Buccaneers. “Obviously you’re not going to get this far and play a bad team.”

The Panthers, 24-6, earned that right with three home regional playoff victories, including Friday’s Region 2 final, a 69-40 dismantling of River Ridge.

Vanessa Diaz, the Panthers’ lone senior, led the way with a 29-point effort. She was sensational from both three-point range—where she made 6-of-8 attempts—and from the free throw line, where she was 11-for-12.

“A perfect home ending to my career,” Diaz said. “We have worked so hard to get to this point and now we are going to play in a Final Four. We all hit some threes early and that really gave us a lot of confidence.”

“I wanted it more for her than me or anything else,” Marino said of his star shooting guard who has scored more than 2,000 points in her career. “We can be good next year, but everything she’s put in for this program has been immeasurable.

“She followed me over from Neptune Middle School and has been the backbone of our program for the last four years. She is not the biggest player on the floor but she is always the hardest worker. She is a great leader, tough as nails and her basketball IQ is off the charts. It’s a tough thing to say when your own kid plays for your team, but Vanessa is my favorite player ever,” Marino jokingly added with a smile.

While Justin’s daughter, freshman Alyssa Marino, may not be her dad’s favorite player, she also played a huge role in the win. Her four threepointers in the first half helped the Panthers build a 20-9 first quarter lead and extend it to 28-10 halfway through the second.

The Panthers took a 16-point lead into the half, and Diaz would thwart any hopes of a visitor comeback by nailing four three-pointers in the third period. Forward Malayna Stevenson added six more as the Panthers took an insurmountable 30-point lead after three quarters.

Stevenson, who scored 16, was another pivotal Panther player. Through three periods, she would drive the lane and either get a layup or kick the ball out to an open opponent for an open three.

“We have a reputation of being a three-point shooting team and that sometimes works to our advantage,” Marino said. “Teams tend to try to play a lot of tight manto- man coverage on us. When they do that, we are not afraid to take the ball inside. Because teams have to switch a lot, that creates potential mismatches. When that happens, Malayna is unstoppable because smaller players on a switch simply can’t cover her inside.”

The Panthers were red hot in the game, shooting 54%– including a blistering 63% from beyond the three-point arc (12-of-19). Despite the success, Marino hesitated to call it his team’s best effort.

“It’s up there, but the thing I like about this team is they always think they can do better,” Marino said. “This group is never satisfied, and that’s a good thing.”