Doral Academy girls’ basketball routs South Dade to return to state final four

Just outside the double glass doors, tucked in a corner of Doral Academy’s gym, a long sheet of brown kraft paper displays the hand-painted words “ROAD TO STATES” in bold red capital letters, with “Districts” and “Regionals” in black and boxes checked off for each round the Firebirds’ girls’ basketball team has marched through.

Friday night, they checked off the final box on the homemade banner after beating South Dade 74-45 at home in the Region 4-7A final, and now they’re headed to the state semifinals for the third consecutive year.

“It feels amazing to do it three times,” Doral senior guard Stephanie Vega said. “It means a lot. But now, we want to win it all. So, we’re going to work really hard for that.”

The Firebirds (20-8) will face Port St. Lucie Centennial in a 7A state semifinal on March 13 at CSI Companies Court at UNF Arena in Jacksonville - the new site for the state finals after spending over 30 seasons in Lakeland.

“This is what we worked for all year,” said first-year Doral coach Daniela Barrios, who was promoted from assistant coach at her alma mater after Allison Bustamante was hired by Barry University. “We knew we wanted to get back there, and the goal is to win, not just get back there. Everybody thought we were going to take a step back and we’ve only gotten so much better.”

“These girls have bonded. They’ve worked every single day. I push them hard, and they take it, and they do what needs to be done.”

Vega scored 21 of her 25 points in the second half and sophomore guard Leila Figueroa posted 14 points to lead the top-seeded Firebirds, who trailed the third-seeded Buccaneers (12-10) by one point after the first period. Barrios, whose team trounced Lake Worth Park Vista 106-13 in the regional semifinals, said she wasn’t worried about the deficit.

“Honestly, no. I knew it was partly jitters and adrenaline and just getting out of our game because of the excitement,” she said. “But there was no doubt in my mind we were going to come out on top in this game.”

Figueroa scored Doral’s first 11 points of the second period, sparking them with three 3-pointers and a layup in transition. After swishing one from behind the arc from the left wing, she hit from the left corner, and then drained another long ball from the right corner.

“It was all about the team, nothing about me,” Figueroa said. “It was, ‘What can I do to my best ability for my team?’ That’s the mentality I went out with. It feels great to contribute to this win.”

Barrios added: “She’s our sparkplug. We know we can count on her to bring energy every single time and tonight, she was hitting. She’s someone we can always rely on.”

With the score tied at 15, the Firebirds soared ahead with a 13-3 run and took a 28-20 lead into halftime. Their lead grew after the break as Vega took over offensively, scoring 11 points in the third period.

“She’s a leader and she’s a dawg. She does whatever needs to get done,” Barrios said. “In the first half she was a little rusty, but we knew that down the stretch she was going to show up and make big plays for us. That’s what she does.”

Senior guard Ashley Martinez sank a deep 3-pointer a time expired in the third period to give the Firebirds a 15-point cushion. The Buccaneers, who were making their first regional finals apperance, failed to make a dent in that deficit in the fourth.

Sophomore guard Sakura Barnes led them with 20 points, playing the entire second half with four fouls. She repeatedly attacked the basket, drawing trips to the foul line, where she was 8-for-10. Senior guard Yarianna Torres also was aggressive, earning 14 free throws and finishing with 17 points. But the duo was not nearly enough against the Firebirds, who also got 10 points from Camila Velasco, eight from Martinez and seven from DJ Myers.

“We knew they were going to throw certain adjustments at us and try different things, but we prepped for it all week,” Barrios said of South Dade. “At the end of the day, they tried to take out two of our best players, face-guarding them, but we have a lot of great players on the floor, attacking the basket and defending. They couldn’t break our press, so that worked really well for us.”