TAMPA - Blake's gym just got louder and louder as the Yellow Jackets whipped the home crowd into a frenzy - they were beating Tampa Bay Tech, a team that was 24-1 and 19-0 against Hillsborough County opponents.
The noise built from the opening minutes as Blake took a 12-11 lead in the first quarter and never trailed again.
When the final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard read Blake 53, Tampa Bay Tech 48, fans spilled onto the floor in a gigantic mosh-pit dance on the painted Yellow Jacket at center court.
"Shoot, yeah, that might be the biggest victory we've ever had (since the school reopened in 1997)," Blake coach April Williams said. "We've won districts before, but beating them in the (Class 4A, District 11) final, well, that is huge."
The biggest key to victory, outside some tight man-to-man defense, likely was the eight 3-pointers Blake knocked down, four by Joy Jones, who led her team with 16 points.
"We always shoot a lot of 3s but we don't usually make a lot of them," Williams said. "Tonight they just fell in and they couldn't have fallen in at a much better night."
The victory moves Blake (17-11) to Thursday night's regional against visiting Lake Wales. TBT (24-2) travels to face a tough Winter Haven team, a fact Tech coach Heather Glezen said her team can overcome.
"This is just a bump in the road along the path that we want to go," Glezen said. "We'll overcome this and we'll become stronger because of it. We have a lot of seniors on this team and I know they will respond."
On Saturday, despite trailing 35-21 in the third, it appeared Tech would not only respond but rally for the victory.
Twice the Titans cut the gap to two in the fourth, 39-37 and 48-46, but Blake responded with a couple of unanswered baskets each time.
"I knew when we kept making those shots that we were going to win," Williams said. "I just knew it."
