The Bloomingdale High School girls’ basketball program has become a juggernaut in Hillsborough County. The Lady Bulls have reached the state final four in three of the last four seasons. In March, the team won the program’s first basketball state championship in school history, defeating Southridge 43-41 in Lakeland.
“I was just in disbelief,” said head coach Joel Bower. “I turned to my assistant coaches and asked, ‘Did that really happen? Is this really happening?’ It just didn’t seem real. I watched the girls celebrate like they hadn’t all year. I watched the joy, I watched kids cry that I’ve never seen cry, I just took in them embracing each other. My favorite part was watching them enjoy it.”
Bloomingdale reached the 6A state championship last season for the first time in team history but fell a little short after going undefeated until that point. The four returning players felt that there was some unfinished business. Bower said that they went into the last offseason highly motivated to win that one final game. Each time in the last three appearances at the final four, the team won one more game and went a step closer.
The Lady Bulls faced some adversity along the way, losing four in a row and five out of seven games in the middle of the season against really tough opponents. The team put together a more challenging schedule than last season in order to become more battle-tested. The strategy paid off with the team winning their last 12 games in a row to finish the season. Bower said that it took a little while for the team to gel, but they started to put it all together at the start of regionals.
“In the semifinal and state final, I just feel like everybody was doing whatever they could to help us win,” said Bower. “I think I said it after the game, they were doing championship things. They took it to another level; it was really cool to see.”
The team returned four players from last year’s team and had a total of six seniors. Seniors Noelle Mengle and Izellah Kendrick have been with the program for the last four seasons and are a part of the winningest class in program history, going 106-15. Both players have been a huge key to their team’s success. Kendrick has over 1,000 career points and Mengle, a University of Tampa signee, broke the program record for most career points. The duo became the fifth and sixth 1,000-point scorers in team history.
“This championship was deserved and worked for for years by the players that came before us and created the work ethic and culture that is carried over into our team today,” said Mengle. “I hope our championship has created a lasting legacy and impact on the basketball program.”
Bower, who has coached the program for 14 seasons, said that the last four seasons led to the culmination of winning the state championship. He said the legacy of these seniors will never be forgotten.
“They accomplished something that has never been done in school history,” said Bower. “They’ll never forget Saturday, they’ll never forget it. They’re being treated like royalty right now, the celebration is continuing and I’m just enjoying seeing them get all the accolades.”
