Ocoee's champion dreams fall in Final Four but the team's culture forever is altered

The Ocoee High girls basketball team was bound for greatness from day one. 

When the team stepped into the gym in June for summer workouts, head coach Marcus Spencer quickly saw the potential. In his 19 years of coaching, he never had seen a group of players with that level of talent. From the younger girls to the eight seniors, each brought a special piece to the roster. 

Together they led Ocoee to becoming the district champions. Then the regional champions. Then for the first time in school history, going to the Final Four in back-to-back years and becoming one of the inaugural Class 7A girls basketball teams to play in Jacksonville for a state championship. 

Ocoee was set to play Winter Haven at 9 a.m. Friday, March 13. 

“We had some of the best practices and preparation the last few weeks that felt like, ‘Man, this is our year,’” Spencer said. “We even had a practice Thursday afternoon in Jacksonville and everything was clicking and the excitement, the opportunity, I just felt like, ‘Man, this is our year.’ Me and my assistant coaches, we talked about it and just had this feeling inside of us.”

The buildup made the game even more special. The city of Ocoee donated $2,000 to fund the Lady Knights’ Jacksonville trip. Ocoee High drove fans to the arena, which created a home-like crowd. 

But despite the perfect practices, the fanbase and the support, Ocoee fell 31-26 to Winter Haven, and its momentum came to a close. 

“It hurt me that Friday when we lost,” Spencer said. “I was numb. I was in shock because we had so many people who came to watch us play and my friends said, ‘I’m coming on Saturday night. Y’all going to win.’ We were trying to speak it into existence, but it just didn’t fall.” 

All 32 minutes of play against Winter Haven were a fight. The game was close, neither team had its breakaway moment, and it came down to the final minutes. The Lady Knights always talked about executing in the end, Spencer said. Wins are determined by the team who doesn’t turn over the ball down the stretch, makes its layups and doesn’t leave shooters open. 

“I told them it was on me,” Spencer said. “As a player, I never want them to feel like they let us down or they let the city down.” 

From a defensive standpoint, Ocoee did phenomenal; limiting a team to 31 points in a state semifinal game isn’t easy to do, but Winter Haven’s defense was right there, too. The Lady Knights were held to 26 points, when throughout the whole playoffs the team had been averaging 50-plus points and beating its opponents by 20-plus points. Even the team’s leading scorer, Dakara Merthie, who always shot in double digits, was limited to eight points. 

Ocoee also allowed Winter Haven to have 19 attempts from the free- throw line, while the Lady Knights only had two. Spencer said fouling was an issue the team had faced all season, and it came back to hurt the team in its most important game of the season. 

The Lady Knights still will be hunting for a state title following its second loss in the Final Four, but its success slowly has changed the culture of Ocoee’s program. 

“Everyone knows who we are now,” Spencer said. 

Ocoee has transformed in Spencer’s six years there. His first season, the team was 3-17 but changed gears and became four-time district champions, two-time regional champions and two-time Final Four contenders. The team finished the year 24-6, and five of its losses came to teams who made it to the state semifinals in their respective classes. 

“My athletic director came to me after the game and said, ‘You’ve been the most successful coach ever in Ocoee history in any sport, and you’ve only been here six years,’” Spencer said. 

He and the coaching staff will continue to work to maintain that. Girls can come in with talent, but the coaches need to put them in position to be successful through strategy and guidance. Spencer preaches every day for players to have their bags packed at night and walk into the gym in the same uniform, to send a message to opponents and spectators. 

“When we walk in the gym, I want people to be like, ‘Well, I was about to leave, but this team looks like they can play. I like the way they look, so let me see how we play,’” Spencer said. “Even if we don’t play great, it’s going to give the illusion that we look like somebody.” 

Every team needs its word or phrase to look up to and Spencer chose, “culture.” He wanted to, and has, changed Ocoee’s culture from a program people didn’t take seriously to a team people look at and want to be a part of. 

Through changing the players’ attire to the coaches’ attire, Ocoee’s coaches are building a team backed on success. 

“We are trying to accomplish something,” Spencer said. “We’re not just playing, rolling out the balls. No, our time is valuable. I tell people all the time, ‘If I’m in something, I’m in 100%, 10 toes down and we’re going to get the most out of it.’”