By: J. Daniel Pearson
Junior Alyssa Marino scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the Gateway Panthers ended years of frustration – by winning the Orange Belt Conference Tournament with a 55-49 win over St. Cloud.
Gateway, 18-4, entered the game as the tournament’s top seed but had lost 18 consecutive games to the Bulldogs dating back to the 2011-12 season. The victory not only gave the Panthers their first OBC title in school history but also broke St. Cloud’s five-year stranglehold over the championship.
“It feels great to finally win this title,” Panthers coach Justin Marino said. “It was a physical game and they (the officials) were letting them play. It’s the sort of game we actually like playing in but we weren’t hitting our shots for most of the game and we fell behind.”
Normally both a high-scoring (71 points per game) and an outstanding shooting team (48%), Gateway made just two of 16 shots in the first quarter and shot just 29% for the game.
Meanwhile, St. Cloud was controlling the action through the first three periods. Although Gateway managed to rally to tie the score at the half (28-28) and after three periods (39-39) the Bulldogs led by as many as seven in both the first half and third quarter.
Savannah Kroener scored 15 first-half points and Arianna Viera had nine in the third quarter to key St. Cloud’s offense.
But the fourth quarter would belong to Marino and the Panthers. Marino gave Gateway the lead with a driving layup and extended the lead to five with a three-pointer – the first two 3s she made in the period.
Any chance of a St. Cloud upset would eventually fade away at the 1:33 mark, when Kroener fouled out of the contest. Still, a Viera jumper cut the gap to three late in the game, but Evana Rivera came up with a steal and made a pair of key free throws down the stretch to insure the victory.
The play of Rivera, who scored 16 points in the game, was not lost on Coach Marino. “With Alyssa and Ashlynn (Gateway super freshman Ashlynn Day) averaging 20 points each, Evana sometimes get lost in the shuffle,” Marino said. “But she has played a big role for us all season. She was outstanding on both ends of the court tonight.”
Marino added that he was pleased with his team’s composure. “It remains to be seen if this is the best team we’ve ever had, but I will tell you this – I’m not so sure any of our other teams would have come back and won tonight. When we fell behind by seven or eight in the third quarter, and yet there was no panic from our players and that’s always a positive sign.”
St. Cloud, which was led by Kroener (19 points) and Viera (17), fell to 13-7 on the season. “We played the type of game tonight that we had to play to have a chance to win,” Coach Chad Ansbaugh said. “We let it get away from us in the fourth quarter and that’s on me, I didn’t do a very good job of coaching down the stretch. Right now, I hurt for our kids but I am extremely happy for Justin and the Gateway players. They deserved to win tonight.”
St. Cloud (49): Ariana Viera 7-17 FG -1-1 FT- 17 PTS; Vanessa Vohs 0-5 FG- 0-0 FT- 0 Pts; Ava Sanchez 2-3 FG -0-0 FT- 6 PTS; Savannah Kroener 7-15 FG -3-4 FT -19 PTs; Syani Berrios 3-3 FG- 1-1 FT- 7 PTS; Team Totals: 19-43 FG (44.1%); 4-5 FT (80%). 3PT Field Goals: Viera 2, Sanchez 2, Kroener 2
Gateway (55): Ashlynn Day 3-14 FG- 6-12 FT- 12 PTS; Alyssa Marino 7-16 FG- 4-6 FT – 22 PTS; Olivia Bienaime 0-0 FG- 0-0 FT- 0 PTS; Evana Rivera 6-16 FG-4-6 FT-16 PTS; Jalissa Yarbrough 0-4 FG- 2-2 FT- 2 PTS; Andrea Suazo 1-4 FG- 0-0 FT- 3 PTs; Team Totals: 17-58 FG (29.3%) FT 16-26 (61.5%) 3 PT Field Goals: Marino 4; Sauzo 1