Our Lady Manta Rays traveled to Everglades City Thursday night to play the Everglades City Gators for the PCAC Basketball Championship.  The gym was packed, and the crowd was rowdy. The Gators were favored and hungry for their first PCAC title.  They had beaten our Rays in 3 out of 4 meetings this season, which left the Gators and their home crowd confident.  The Gators have 3 veteran seniors in their starting lineup who had been playing together for years.  The logical conclusion was that the Gators should win.

As the game started our Rays did not appear to have gotten that memo.  Our defense was extremely aggressive.  Coach Travis Barry had decided to guard the Gators senior sharp-shooter Alycia Kibodeaux with Michelle Armas who is in her first season with the Rays.  Coach Barry elected to not guard Kibodeaux with Cadence Snover like usual because of a banged-up knee.  Instead, Cadence stayed in the lane acting as a stopgap for anyone getting to the rim.  Michelle did a bang-up job on Kibodeaux, staying virtually right underneath her at all times.  This took Kibodeaux out of her rhythm.

Halfway through the first period the Rays got a scare when Jocelyn Snover went down with a rolled ankle. Luckily, Katelin Reisinger came off the bench and did fantastic according to Coach Barry.  “Katelin came in cold and played with confidence and toughness.  I think she grabbed 3 rebounds in her first minute on the court.  This was a big help while Jocelyn was recovering.”

The game was tied after the first period, and then tied again at the end of the first half.  The Rays had significant contributions from sophomores Ava Tobiason and Piper Noyes in the 2nd quarter. The crowd knew it was going to be a war and the players didn’t disappoint.

In the 3rd quarter, the Rays started to get in the flow of things, and the Gators appeared to be getting worn down.  The big difference for the Rays was the passing and rebounding.  Payton Rice just seemed to be grabbing every rebound, and we kept finding the right player at the right time.  Our Rays took the lead 30 to 25 at the end of the 3rd period.

The Gators brought the game back to within 2 points in the 4th quarter when Alycia Kibodeaux scored her first 3-pointer of the game.  The Gator crowd went crazy and coach Barry called a timeout to settle things down. After the timeout Jocelyn Snover sank a crucial 3-pointer putting the Rays back up by 5.  Snover then came back down on a fast break and scooped in a layup putting the Rays up by 7.  Minutes later Jocelyn put on her final stamp on her basketball career at MIA by hitting a 3-pointer that erupted the Rays crowd and finally quieted the Gator fans.  The Rays essentially stalled out the rest of the game and walked away with an unlikely finish to an unlikely season.  The final score was 42-33, clinching the championship for the Lady Rays.

The Rays will be losing 3 valuable seniors in Michelle Armas and Cadence and Jocelyn Snover.  We will also be saying a sad goodbye to our beloved exchange student Astrid Fosso.  They will all be greatly missed.  The Rays will move forward with Juniors Payton Rice and Kathryn Barry together with sophomores Piper Noyes, Ava Tobiason, and Emily and Katelin Reisinger.