Doral girls dethrone Winter Haven for long-sought first state basketball title
Daniela Barrios was a sixth-grader at Doral Academy when the school’s girls’ basketball program was in its infancy.
“When I started playing, we were still building the gym,” said Barrios, who would later become a starting guard for the Firebirds.
Over a decade later, Barrios, 24, just completed her first season as Doral Academy’s head coach.
And on Saturday night, Barrios witnessed the completion of the Firebirds’ long journey to the mountaintop.
Led by senior guard Stephanie Vega’s 22 points, five rebounds and three steals, Doral Academy outlasted reigning state champion Winter Haven for a 48-43 victory in the Class 7A state final.
After two state semifinal exits the past two seasons, the Firebirds (22-8) finally lifted their first state championship trophy after an emotional celebration on the court at UNF Arena.
“To be here means the world, but it’s nothing without the team I have and the girls I have,” Barrios said. “They worked so hard for this. Knowing they could trust in me and I could trust in them never wavered.”
Barrios went from player to assistant coach at Doral after college under former coach Allison Bustamante, who laid the foundation for sustained success for the Firebirds in recent years.
When Bustamante was hired as the head coach for Barry University women’s program, Barrios was promoted to head coach.
On Saturday, the hugs with her seniors like Vega and guard Ashley Martinez drew tears of joy from her players, who have been on their journey together the past few years.
“We worked day and night for this, and we said we weren’t going to come up short again for this,” Martinez said.
Vega added: “The tears you see, we’re very emotional. We’ve waited a long time for this.”
Since the fifth grade, actually.
Vega and Martinez grew up together in basketball and formed part of a talented core the past four years, which took Doral from just another solid Miami-Dade County team to one of the state’s best.
Martinez finished with 12 points, three assists and two steals on Saturday, and played a key role defensively against Winter Haven’s backcourt in a game that was often played in halfcourt setting rather than up-tempo up and down the court.
Another senior, DJ Myers, played a huge role in the frontcourt. Myers battled Winter Haven’s 6-5 center Victoria Hall, who finished with 12 rebounds and six blocks, but was held to eight points.
Quin’Nya Gray de Sanders led the Blue Devils (20-7), a six-time state champion, with 24 points.
A three-pointer by sophomore Camila Velasco and two subsequent free throws gave Doral a 32-28 lead with under three minutes left in the third quarter. Winter Haven tied the game three times, but the Firebirds never let them retake the lead. A Martinez three-pointer midway through the fourth put Doral ahead for good.
Myers finished with five points and eight key rebounds, including a crucial one with 11.2 seconds left off a missed free throw by Winter Haven’s Alyse Mercredi that could have cut Doral’s lead to two.
“From the beginning, we said to leave it all on the floor since it was our last year,” Myers said.
Myers floated the ball ahead to Vega, who was fouled with 5.8 seconds remaining and put the game away with a pair of free throws.
“I just said ‘I got this,’” Vega said. “I’ve done this before. No pressure.”
Myers, who joined Doral last season, gave the Firebirds an inside presence they had been lacking in prior years. She also doubles as the Firebirds’ girls’ soccer team’s starting goalkeeper during the winter sports season.
The Doral Academy sports community was present in Jacksonville throughout the weekend even with one state champion supporting another.
Shortly after the Firebirds were presented their trophy and medals and began getting ready to exit the arena, Doral’s softball team showed up after taking a bus from Bradenton after a game they played there Saturday to come support the basketball team.
Myers said she experienced something similar while playing for both the soccer and basketball teams and said she was grateful for the support she got from Doral to make that possible.
“It’s a lot to play both sports at the same time, but it’s fun,” Myers said. “It’s good when you have the support system we have for both sports. It’s great to have a loving family like this at Doral that’s in unison.”
