It just had to be.  The two previous times Melanie Warner and her North Florida Christian teammates traveled to Lakeland for the Class 2A girls basketball semifinals, they returned home without the state championship.  She didn't want to experience that feeling for a third time. So Warner went out and made sure she didn't.  "I couldn't be more thrilled with the way she played," NFC head coach Aaron Krause said. "She was everything you could expect out of a veteran player. It was obvious she put the team on her back and helped lead us to a state championship."

All year long Warner had been a terrific player. But in Lakeland, on the biggest stage in the state, she took her game to new heights.  In the 57-34 semifinal win, she scored 22 points and pulled down 20 rebounds. The entire Hollywood Christian team managed 19 boards.  Then in the state-title win against Lafayette, she scored 22 points again as the Eagles were finally able to capture the state championship.  "It was an indescribable feeling," said Warner, the All-Big Bend Girls Basketball Player of the Year.  "She was focused," Krause said. "She wanted it. On the way down there she was saying, 'We're going to get it this time. We need to go out there and outwork them.' "  Which is exactly what Warner did.  In the semifinal game especially, it seemed as if there were three Melanie Warners on the court pulling down rebounds for the Eagles.  "You could tell it was going to be her ball or nobody's," Krause said.

Sure, it helped that Warner — at 5-foot-11 — was taller than any Hollywood Christian starter, but rebounding isn't just all about height. It's about desire. It's about relentlessness. It's about finally getting to grab hold of that trophy.  "Rebounding is something I've just been taught to do," Warner said. "You just have to know where to move and how to move."  Soon, the NFC senior will be moving on to Hampton University, where she will continue her basketball career. It's not certain at this point what position Warner will be playing at the next level, but Krause has some simple advice for her new coach, Walter Mebane.  "I know that if he uses her, anywhere, he'll get good things," Krause said with a laugh. "That much I do know."  The NFC coach speaks from experience.  Ever since Warner started playing varsity for the Eagles she's been one of the team's best players.  But heading into her final season, the senior admits she wasn't sure how good the Eagles were going to be. They advanced to the state title game in 2007, but lost four of their top six players to graduation.  "We were kind of iffy about this year," Warner said. "Out of all the teams we've had in the past, nobody would have thought this would have been the one to win state. It was a shocker."  It wasn't quite a Miracle on the Hardwood type of story though.  Yes, the Eagles did lose those four players from a season ago, but the two returning starters just happened to be two of the best players in the state.

Joining Warner in the frontcourt was the multitalented Samantha Phillips. The senior duo combined to average 36 points and 19 rebounds a game in 2008.  "That's like my sister," Warner said. "We've been together since middle school. We grew up with each other, and we learned a lot from each other.  "She complemented me and I complemented her."  The complementary pieces continued to grow. So much so that Warner started to realize just how good her final NFC team was going to be.  "When we got to the Christmas tournament we started playing bigger teams," Warner said. "And we were actually competing with these teams. We were holding our own."  Pretty soon, thanks in large part to Warner's inspired play, they were all holding something else.  It was gold. It was shiny. And they made sure to bring it back to Tallahassee with them.