Instead of trying to ignore the pressure of being an elite team, Olivia Davis and her Cardinal Mooney High girls basketball teammates embrace it.   Davis, a junior point guard who lives in Lakewood Ranch, is the vocal leader of the Cougars, who are 12-3 and have their eyes on a state title after making a leap and reaching the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 3A championship game a season ago. Cardinal Mooney lost that game 59-34 to Miami Country Day School — a girls basketball dynasty that has won seven state titles in eight years — but has returned seven players from last year's roster and has added some talented freshmen in forward Kali Barrett and guard Sy'monique Simon.

Jesuit may own The Streak over Tampa Catholic on the gridiron, but things are quite different when balls are bouncing on the hardwood.   The visiting Crusaders won their 10th straight meeting in the rivalry, picking up a 46-37 victory Friday night in front of a capacity crowd.     “I've been involved in so many of these,” said longtime Tampa Catholic coach Don Dziagwa.

The tension was palpable.   The Spruce Creek and Atlantic boys' basketball players, coaches and fans wanted so badly for their respective teams to beat their rival that one could hear and see fits of frustration throughout the packed gymnasium.   No one, perhaps, was more emotional than Atlantic head coach Justin Vallejo.

Na'Riya Perry was down to her last chance to achieve a two-year-old goal, and she wasn't going to let it slip away. Perry scored a game-high 13 points as the Matanzas girls basketball team made history on Jan. 14, defeating cross-town rival Flagler Palm Coast for the first time, 39-35, at the Bulldogs' gym.

There was no boisterous celebration after the Pirates' first win of the season. One day after suffering an emotional two-point loss to arch-rival Flagler Palm Coast, the Matanzas boys basketball players were subdued after ending a 12-game losing streak. The Pirates held off a feisty Seabreeze team 65-63 on Jan.

The time 38:32 was frozen in red on the Taylor High School scoreboard as Seabreeze's Brianna Chesley drove the ball into the net for the final goal of the Five Star Conference championship game against Spruce Creek High School. The game was called a little under two minutes into the second half as the Seabreeze High School girls soccer team was crowned conference champs after an 8-0 blowout against the Hawks on Thursday, Jan. 13.