Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Blue Devils lock down championship, again
LAKELAND — For the second straight season on championship Saturday at the Lakeland Center, it just wasn’t South Broward’s day.
Trailing Winter Haven by 13 with less than four minutes to play, the Bulldogs closed the gap to 59-54 on quick scores by Mackenzie Sadaka and Tianna Ayulo.
But South Broward (29-4) would get no closer as the Blue Devils wrested momentum back their way, winning 72-65 late Saturday afternoon to repeat as Florida girls basketball state champions.
Winter Haven senior Tatianna Thompson led all scorers with 20 points, while Ayulo led South Broward with 16 points and fellow senior Sadaka added 15.
Shante Walker scored 11 points before fouling out with 2:12 on the clock. South Broward’s All-State senior standout also grabbed 17 rebounds — more than twice as many as the game’s second-best rebounder, Winter Haven’s Melissa Sam, who had eight.
South Broward, winner of six state titles, with the last in 2008, fell to eventual champion Winter Haven 59-53 in last year’s Class 7A semifinals.
Now owners of back-toback state titles, the Blue Devils (27-4) also won it all in 2005 and 2007.
The Bulldogs this year bested Winter Haven on the boards 47-33 — 24 on offense — after the two teams both tallied 36 last season. But South Broward couldn’t turn them into points, shooting 19-for-61 (.311) in the final.
The Blue Devils made 25 of 53 shots Saturday for what may turn out to be the best shooting percentage of any team all weekend (.472). Winter Haven also led South Broward in assists — dishing 18 to the Bulldogs’ nine.
Coach Sharlene Ferguson cited “mental mistakes” as South Broward’s Achilles’ heel Saturday.
“I’m proud of them — they dug down and got it within five,” Ferguson said. “But we had some turnovers and mental breakdowns at the wrong times.”
With seven of its 12 players — and all of its starters and key subs — set to graduate in May, South Broward may not soon visit Lakeland again.
The tear-streaked faces of both players and coaches at their postgame press conference spoke to the core group’s longevity — and success — together.
Ferguson couldn’t explain it more, except to say, “We couldn’t get it done today.”
South Broward’s four state championship runs in 2000-03 is tied for the second-most with Laurel Hill (1981-84) and Dillard (2010-13). The all-time consecutive record held by Ribault, which won five from 1999-2003. The Bulldogs also won it all in 1998 and 2008.