By Jeff Odom
The Steinbrenner girls basketball team earned its first postseason win in the program’s four-year history with a 51-40 victory at St. Petersburg Feb. 7 in the Class 7A regional quarterfinals.
It was payback for the Warriors (21-6), who were dealt a loss in the quarters by the Green Devils (18-11) in their first trip to the playoffs last season.
“I told them they had an opportunity to stake the claim that they were the first playoff winning team in the history of the program,” said Steinbrenner coach JR Allen. “They had something special in their heart, and they bought into it and I’m happy for the girls.”
The Warriors were led offensively by forward Rachel Briere (15 points, nine rebounds) and forward/guard Bailey Hooker (15 points, seven rebounds).
Despite foul trouble, Steinbrenner jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, thanks to a trio of 3-pointers from guard Olivia Unger (nine points, eight rebounds), and led at halftime.
“We got out to a great start with Olivia hitting a couple quick ones from outside, and when she did that it really made a spark for our team,” Allen said. “That got everybody’s mojo going and got our juice flowing a little bit, and we were able to jump out to a big lead.”
St. Petersburg crawled back in the third quarter with a 10-2 run out of halftime and overwhelmed the Warriors’ offense with their press defense to grab a 27-23 lead, their first of the night.
Hooker said the team knew it had to stay focused on finishing.
“We had to realize that we still had the game, and were still controlling the game,” said Hooker, a senior. “We kept pushing even though we lost the lead, and we never put our heads down, and that was really important.”
Steinbrenner cut St. Petersburg’s lead to one heading into the fourth quarter after guard Taylor Thigpen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Allen said he talked to his team about standing tall in midst of all the pressure between the third and fourth quarters.
It worked.
The Warriors’ success on the free throw line (14-of-19), along with Hooker’s 3-pointer with four minutes left, recaptured the lead, which they would not relinquish.
“Instead of talking about weathering the storm, I said let’s go dance in the rain and make it the best, and they did,” Allen said. “Our offense really came up clutch, and we did just that — we danced.”
The Warriors did suffer a loss as leading rebounder Lauren Shedd, a senior center, left the game in the first quarter with a right ankle injury and did not return. Tests revealed she has torn ligaments that will most likely end her high school career.
Allen said the loss of Shedd is “heartbreaking.”
The victory sets up a fourth meeting with district rival Freedom Feb. 12 at 7 p.m., which beat Steinbrenner in the first three meetings including an 18-point win in the 7A-9 final.
“They have great athletes, but can they step up as a team when they have to for the fourth time?” Allen said. “We’re going to put them to that test.”
