It was a memorable night for the Ponte Vedra Sharks girls basketball team, as they not only picked up a 48-38 win over rival Nease, but one of their own, Kennedy Rosendahl also broke the 1,000-point mark for her career as well on the night.
Rosendahl reached 1,000 points for her career by burying a shot late in the second quarter.
“This has been my dream since like third grade, and just to know I finally did it feels pretty good,” Rosendahl said. “I wanted to get it at home, but this way was just as special.”
After she made it, there was a break in the action, as she walked over to the bench and received hugs from her coaches and teammates and a loud ovation from the many Sharks’ students that made the trip down the road for the contest.
“We all grew up together and have now been playing together forever, so these are not just my teammates, but they’re my best friends,” Rosendahl said.
Nease head coach Sherri Anthony also came out on the court and shared an embrace and showed her respect for the accomplishment prior to play getting back underway.
The Sharks ended a dominant first half, as everything was going the Sharks’ way and the scoreboard showed it, as they found themselves up 25-10 at halftime.
However, Nease was having none of it to start the second half and came out fired up and making plays on both ends of the court en route to gradually cutting into the Sharks advantage and outscoring them 18-9 in the third quarter to only trail 34-28 with one quarter to play.
The Panthers received major plays from a pair of its younger players during their huge third quarter, as Sage Pytel and Casey Eliason both led the way with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Pytel is just a freshman and Eliason is a sophomore, but the two demonstrated a tenacity down low both when it came to scoring and rebounding. Eliason also blocked a shot.
With the Panthers seemingly carrying all the momentum heading into the fourth quarter and the home crowd pumped up, Rosendahl quickly quieted the crowd with a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to extend the Sharks’ lead to nine with less than three minutes to play.
“I’ve always been a shooter, but now it just seems like every shot is going in, or at least that’s the mindset I have,” Rosendahl said. “It’s pretty much become like muscle memory at this point.”
Prior to that shot, both teams had been trading shots for the most part and the Panthers were holding steady in striking distance only six points down.
A couple of possessions later, the Sharks put the game on ice with a beautifully placed pass from Rosendahl to fellow senior Taylor Perce who was posted under the basket for a lay-up.
Rosendahl finished with a game-high 16 points on the night, while Perce reached double figures with 10 points, including a pair from beyond the arc and Morgan Gavazzi added nine for the Sharks.
