For the second year in a row the Winter Haven girls basketball team are state champions.

The Blue Devils were able to handle a feisty South Broward team to claim the Class 8A title, winning 72-65. Winter Haven is now the first girls' program in Polk County history to win back-to-back titles.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Winter Haven head coach Johnnie Lawson said. “After all the work that we put in, even at eight seconds I still wasn’t comfortable. I don’t even know what to say, I wanted to bring it back for Winter Haven, Polk County and I wanted to do something really special. I think we did that.”

Winter Haven led by as much as 16 points in the third quarter, but was tested by a relentless Bulldog team that got within five points with 3:42 remaining in the game but never was able to get any closer.

“That’s a heck of a team,” Lawson said. “They’re tough, their coach is tough. But I love a battle. My kids are like a boxer and when they get hit they actually like to get hit. They like to bleed, and when that happens they go crazy.”

The Blue Devils shot 47 percent from the field, allowing them to outlast a fourth quarter that saw them get outscored 27-18. Four Winter Haven players scored in double figures. Senior Tatianna Thompson, a Georgetown commit, had a game- and career-high 20 points while adding four rebounds. Thompson was living in Utah last season, so she was not a part of the Winter Haven team that won gold last year.

“The crazy thing about it is I wanted it for Tatianna so bad because she had been here so long with us, since like the seventh grade working out,” Lawson said. “I wanted it for her so bad, and I think she wanted it just as much for me, because she went out there and played.” “I’m so happy, I’m so excited.”