Dr. Phillips rallies late to repeat as 7A state champions
LAKELAND — Dr. Phillips did it the hard way Saturday night while repeating as Florida High School Athletic Association girls basketball state champions.
The Panthers (30-1) rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half and came away with a wild 47-43 win vs. Winter Haven (24-5) in the Class 7A final at RP Funding Center.
DP trailed 25-11 with 5:36 left in the third quarter after shooting just 17% from the floor in the first half.
“I kept telling them, ‘It doesn’t matter what it says on the scoreboard because we’re still going to win,’ ” Dr. Phillips coach Anthony Jones said. “You can ask any of our players. I don’t care if we’re down 20. I believe we’re always going to win. Our players can persevere through anything because we work hard for everything.”
Junior guard Trinity Turner, sophomore Sariah Johnson and freshman Kendall Perry each made buckets that trimmed the deficit to 33-26 at the end of a third quarter that turned the pace of an otherwise lethargic contest.
Dr. Phillips continued to chip away from there.
“We’ve never been down double-digits late in a game of this magnitude,” Jones said. “It’s all about encouraging and being positive and not being negative all the time, so I had to change that up a little bit.”
Elise Horne drained 3 of 4 free throws to get DP to within 35-31 with five minutes left. A 3 from the corner by Ronnie Berry made it 37-34 one minute later.
Turner tied the score on a 3 from the opposite corner in front of the DP bench. The ball bounced briefly atop the front of the rim before falling through. Turner then made a steal and went the other way for a layup to give the Panthers their first lead with less than three minutes remaining.
“That steal is what really got me fired up and got the momentum going for us as a team,” Turner said.
Winter Haven tied the score on a pair of free throws moments later. DP took the lead for good at 41-39 with 44 seconds left when Johnson rebounded a missed shot and dished underneath to Berry for an easy basket off the glass.
Turner led all players with 22 points and finished with 8 rebounds, 6 steals, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
“I had confidence in Trinity Turner. She ignited the whole team,” Jones said. “I told her, ‘You’re the best player in this arena. Go make a few plays for your teammates.’ ”
Horne tallied 9 points and 8 rebounds and Johnson came away with 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Serenity Hardy led Winter Haven with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
Jones was a late arrival to the start of the game due to a movie premiere he attended in Tampa for his 7-year-old son’s first film appearance.
He didn’t miss much in the early going.
After Horne and Turner gave the Panthers a 4-0 lead in the opening minute, Winter Haven scored the next 10 points before Jones joined the team with close to three minutes to go in the quarter.
The Panthers went scoreless from the field during a nine-minute span until Horne snapped the drought when she converted from the post to cut Winter Haven’s advantage to 15-7.
The Blue Devils took what appeared to be a commanding 19-9 lead into halftime.
“We just had to think about what we were doing and regroup and come out how we normally come out,” Turner said. “Once we got the tempo going fast [in the second half ] we found our flow.”
Like Dr. Phillips, Winter Haven entered the game as a 5-time state champion. The Blue Devils won three straight from 2016-18 and also took home trophies in ‘05 and ‘07.
The Panthers claimed their first state title in 1992.
Jones, who is 283-130 for his career in 14 seasons, led DP to a three-peat from 2011-13. He can now begin work on another as all but senior Jordan Ward return among those who played Saturday.