DAYTONA BEACH — Father Lopez and Mainland's girls basketball teams began 2018 the same way they ended 2017 — clashing head-to-head with plenty at stake.
On Dec. 29, they battled in the championship game of Father Lopez's holiday invitational. Tuesday night's showdown was significant for the District 5-7A standings.
Both games ended the same way, with Father Lopez pulling away to win by double digits.
The Green Wave (14-2) fought off the feisty Bucs, 43-33, on a night where few shots seemed to fall inside the Vince Carter Athletic Center. With the win, Father Lopez improves to 8-0 in its district, knocking off Mainland for the third time in as many tries.
Father Lopez won the first meeting, 37-33, back on Dec. 7. Head coach Brad Ridenour says the Bucs (9-4) have improved dramatically since last season and pushed his girls to the limit.
"It's hard to beat a team the third time," Ridenour said. "We're still trying to get better, doing our normal stuff. … We try to avoid changing up if we can avoid it.
"The first game we played them, I think our girls were surprised that they were as good as they were. They probably thought it was going to be like last year when we rolled them."
Two Lopez players, in particular, have given the Bucs fits in the three meetings — junior wing Taylor Williams and sophomore center Tiera White.
Williams, a preseason Fab 5 pick, scored a game-high 15 on Tuesday night and has 49 points against the Bucs this year. White also has topped double figures each time out, and wore down Mainland's interior defenders in the fourth quarter despite battling sickness and foul trouble.
"We put a lot of emphasis on this (game)," Williams said. "We've been talking about it the last couple of weeks, knowing if we win that we could get the (No. 1) seed in the playoffs. That's our main focus."
Mainland coach Arthur Westbrook's attention now turns to Deltona, though the Bucs still have two crucial games against Atlantic later this month that will likely settle the second seed.
Freshman Isys Grady has been one of the key figures in the Bucs' turnaround, entering the night with an average of 11.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game. Five players contribute at least 6.7 points per game, including three seniors (LeeAnn Kent, Dnajah Smith and Dzhariya Hawkins).
While there's still another month remaining in the season, Westbrook has every intention of seeing Father Lopez at least one more time.
"The first day I walk in for tryouts, I walk in and tell whoever I'm coaching, 'My goal is to win the championship,'" Westbrook said. "I say that to motivate my players. Right now, (Father Lopez) is No. 1. In order to get to the next round, we have to beat No. 1."