Miami Christian’s historic girls basketball run falls just short in state semifinals
Even after so much had gone wrong early in Miami Christian’s first ever appearance in the Class 2A semifinals, the Victors still charged up the court for the final 17 seconds with a chance to force overtime at the RP Funding Center.
A scoreless drought stretching more than seven minutes in the first and second quarters left Miami Christian in an early hole, but a steady stream of three-pointers gave the Victors a chance to tie the game with one more. With 17.3 seconds left, Tampa Bayshore Christian missed a pair of free throws and Miami Christian pushed up the floor. The Victors’ initial set broke down and the ball swung to Maria Catalina Alonso at the top of the key as the clock wound down. She could never get off a shot. Bayshore Christian hung on to win 53-50 and end the most successful season in Miami Christian history at George W. Jenkins Arena.
“Everything was to start on the right side to come back to the down screen on the left,” coach Juan Cardona said. “The ball came to the left side and they switched it, then we went to the handoff and they switched it. It backfired.”
The Victors (17-7) had never put together a season like this one and hadn’t even really come close in recent years. Miami Christian had never reached the state semifinals, most recently coming up a game short in 2016, and for most of the first quarter in Lakeland it showed.
For a little more than a minute, though, the Victors didn’t seem a bit overwhelmed. Gabriela Bendeck — who logged team highs with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists — opened the game with a driving layup, then the sophomore found senior Sofia Vidal for a three-pointer off a drive and kick a possession later. Sixty-eight seconds in, Miami Christian jumped out to a 5-1 lead.
Then the offense came apart. The Victors didn’t score again in the first quarter and went 7:17 without any points. By then, the Faith Warriors (26-1) had built a margin Miami Christian couldn’t overcome.
“The game starts 2-0, we get to the rack,” Cardona said. “We didn’t do that consistently.”
The Victors never led after the opening three minutes, although they remained well within striking distance for most of the second half. Twice in the final nine minutes, Miami Christian trimmed Bayshore Christian’s lead down to three points.
The first time came with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, when senior Paula Barrietos drilled her third three-pointer to slice the Faith Warriors’ lead all the way down to 35-32, but Bayshore Christian had an answer. In the final 30 seconds of the quarter, the Faith Warriors hit their only two threes of the game, including a buzzer-beater by guard Alexandrya Myers, who notched game highs with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bayshore Christian took a 41-32 lead into the fourth and, once again, the Victors had too much ground to make up.
“We don’t play like this,” Vidal said. “I think we were a little bit nervous. This was the first time here like in the high school, most of us. We had a really good team, but we had a really good team against us, so they played really good and didn’t play like we do.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 6:31 PM.
