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Sports

Back-to-Back Championships for Tampa Catholic Girls Basketball

The Lady Crusaders won their second consecutive Class 3A state championship with a 48-37 victory over North Broward in Lakeland 2Thursday night.

Nancy Kroll challenged her team to beat other good teams after a pair of losses in early December. Since then, the Tampa Catholic High School girls basketball team has gone on to win 24 straight games and lift its second state championship in two years.

Star point guard Meghan Keough led the Lady Crusaders with a 30 point performance in the 48-37 victory over North Broward High School. Throughout the evening, Keough was able to get to the basket for easy points due to Broward's fear of Micah Kroll, who had been hot from beyond the three point line in her previous game.

"They were keying in on Micah and it left a lot of space for Meghan to get to the basket," coach Kroll said. "We got baskets when we needed them. Kai Jones had a big game rebounding and playing defense and Micah was important just for her presence. Our mentality was press, press, press."

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After the first quarter, the Lady Crusaders found themselves in trouble as North Broward had a good start to the game. But Kroll told her players to keep chipping away at the team and have faith that they could wear them down.

In the second quarter, Kroll's team did just that by shutting the Eagles out and taking the lead into halftime. As the game progressed after the break, Tampa Catholic proved to be the more fit team and was able to spread their lead.

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"When you have the opponent hunched over at the stomach and sucking wind, you know you're doing something right," Kroll said. "We knew coming in that they weren't a very good scoring team so after they got hot in that opening quarter we just felt like if we could weather the storm that they would go cold eventually."

Tampa Catholic went 16 of 25 from the free throw line and created several fast break points through 11 steals on the defensive end. On the night, they would finish with a +10 turnover margin.

"No one said much before the game," Keough said. "We all knew what needed to be done. If we could penetrate and kick out to our shooters, we knew we'd just have to hit shots but I think they were worried about Micah knocking down threes so it opened up the lane for me to get baskets.

"This is crazy," Keough said. "When I transferred here after my sophomore year I didn't imagine winning two state championships."

For coach Kroll, the success is a repeat of last year, but the feeling is a whole new satisfaction.

"I feel like this one is even more special," Kroll said. "The odds of getting back to the state title game are astronomical, nevermind winning it again. People are using the word dynasty, I like that. Someone told me after the game that I need a new job and that I should go apply for the University of Tampa women's job. This is all just such an amazing feeling."

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