LAKELAND – The Palm Beach Lakes Lady Rams had pure aspirations of being the 2020-2021 Class 7A state champions in girls basketball.
It did not work out the way they wanted to at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Friday afternoon (Feb. 26). Their inspiring season ended in the 7A state semifinals, which turned out to be a 46-39 loss to Miami Senior.
Here’s how it happened on Friday afternoon.
Down 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, Palm Beach Lakes had a small deficit but planned to overcome it in a short time.
“Our mindset as a team was to stay disciplined on both ends,” Rahming said.
It did not work out that way, as Miami Senior (15-9 final record) went on to stretch the lead to 19-13. The Lady Stingarees had a 9-4 scoring run over the Lady Rams throughout the second quarter.
“We needed to finish in the paint,” Rahming said. “We left a lot of points on the board.”
The third quarter scoring margin was about the same, as the Lady Rams outscored the Lady Stingarees, 11-10. This made the overall score at 29-24, which put the Lady Rams within striking distance for their comeback.
At one point in the second half, it certainly looked that way.
But Miami Senior did not give up too much to Palm Beach Lakes in the fourth quarter, as both teams went score for score in stretches.
With under five minutes to go, Lakes was down just two points. It would be the closest the Lady Rams would get though, as the Lady Stingarees stretched their lead in the closing moments by way of a steal and clutch bucket.
“We got within two, but couldn’t get over the hump,” Rahming said.
Rahming recapped her thoughts about the game’s outcome.
“It was definitely disappointing that we didn’t win,” Rahming said of her team, which finished with a 12-2 record. “But at the same time, I am proud of my kids. We went through a lot with the pandemic, but we made a run to state after losing the district championship game.”
SIDE NOTES: Lady Rams senior guard and FIU commit Zaida Gonzalez led all scorers with 14 points.
“I thought she had some good moments,” Rahming said about Gonzalez. “It was a possession-for-possession game, and we had some bad possessions down the stretch.”
Lady Rams junior forward Casey Lewis added 12 points, while senior guard Deborrah Seitu-Redmon had six points.
In summary, Gonzalez, Lewis, and Seitu-Redmon combined to score 32 of the Lady Rams 39 points in the loss.
As for the Lady Stingarees, they finished their season as the 7A state runner-up last night (Feb. 27) in a 52-40 loss to the Plant (Tampa) Lady Panthers (26-3 final record; Class 7A girls basketball state champions).
PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Rowitz
