There seems to be a pattern when it comes to the Lady Knights. For two consecutive years now they have faced Lakewood High School in the FHSAA 6A Regional Finals, only to experience a devastating loss.

This Friday, Feb. 24, the Lady Knights faced the Spartans once again and ended their season with a 83-52 loss.

“We knew it was going to be a hard game, but I think we were ready for it before the game,” head coach Alyson Gregorowicz said. “But when we came out we just didn’t perform as well as we could have.”

The Lady Knights got off to a rough start, quickly falling behind. But nearing the end of the first quarter, they turned around their six-point deficit and left the court down by one.

“[I told the team before the game] to play with confidence and truly believe that we deserve to be playing in this game,” captain and forward Christiana Rolack (’18) said. “I was telling myself to just give everything I have and leave it all on the court.”

It was towards the end of the second quarter that they fell apart.

Lakeland outscored Robinson 30-10 in the second quarter and by halftime, the Lady Knights trailed 48-27. With Lakewood’s rowdy and massive crowd filling three quarters of Robinson’s home court, the Lady Knights lacked the momentum to pick themselves back up.

Kaliah Henderson (’19) led the Lady Knights in scoring with 29 points. But, it was rebounds, or lack thereof, that wreaked the most havoc.

“[Lakewood] out-rebounded us and kept beating us down the court,” Gregorowicz said. “I think [we] just felt the pressure and Lakewood kept bringing it at us.”

The end of the season comes with the graduation of the team’s four seniors: Jada Flanagan, Anna Thomas, Paola Nazario and Rolack.

“The game slowly slipped away when we had a hard time limiting our own mistakes,” Rolack said. “My advice to younger players would be to keep building the Robinson girls basketball program. Remember to always have fun and enjoy what you do.”

And they have built that foundation, with the help of the seniors and veteran players. But perhaps next year they’ll break the pattern of loosing to Lakewood, and finally make it back to states.