LAKELAND — Brandon Stewart, wearing three gold medals and a smile, guaranteed one thing Saturday afternoon.

“I do know they’re never going to forget this,” the coach said.

No, the Mainland Buccaneers will never forget winning a Class 5A state championship — the first in program history — Saturday at the RP Funding Center. They definitely won’t forget the fashion in which it came.

Mainland entered the fourth quarter ahead by 20 points and needed every last one of those to hold off top-seeded American Heritage 62-61.

The Patriots, winners of five straight state titles, had a chance to tie the score in the final 10 seconds. They hoisted a 3-pointer, but it missed, and they settled for two after an offensive rebound.

From there, Mainland sophomore Samantha Lecas was fouled with 0.8 seconds left. And although she missed both her free throws, the final buzzer sounded immediately following the second shot to kick off the celebration.

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The Bucs ran to midcourt. They jumped, hugged and cried before being handed their individual medals and team trophy.

“I screamed,” Lecas said.

“How did you scream?” Stewart asked.

“I can’t say words like that (to the media),” Lecas said, eliciting laughs from her teammates in the postgame interview room.

The score was tied 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. Mainland closed the first half on a 12-1 run to take a 30-25 lead at intermission. It carried that momentum into the third quarter, dominating its way to a 20-5 period.

Junior forward Anovia Sheals, who American Heritage held without a point in the first quarter, put up 19 in the second and third to spearhead the charge.

But that’s when things got interesting.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bucs’ primary ball-handlers, Tia Dobson and Jordan Boddie, each fouled out, and the Patriots began chipping away at their deficit. They opened the fourth with an 8-0 run.

Mainland boosted its lead back to 17 points (57-40) over the next two and a half minutes.

Then, American Heritage made its last push. It pressed aggressively on defense and converted Mainland turnovers into transition offense. With Dobson and Boddie on the bench, Sheals became the main ball-handler.

“I just tried to be a leader to our younger players so that we could still pull out a win,” Sheals said.

The Bucs’ lead dropped to 12 with 2:18 left, to 10 with 1:48 left and to eight with 1:37 left.

Patriot freshman Teriyah McFadden trimmed their deficit to 60-57 — one possession — with 50 seconds remaining.

Mainland freshman Ronneisha Thomas was fouled and hit 1 of her 2 free throws. After a basket by American Heritage freshman Jasleen Green, Thomas did it again, going 1 of 2 from the line.

The Bucs led 62-59 with 15 seconds to go. The Patriots called a timeout.

They came down the floor and attempted a 3. When it missed, Green corralled the board and laid it back in.

With the score sitting at 62-61, Sheals inbounded the ball. American Heritage fouled Lecas with less than a second remaining.

“Tia and Jordan became fifth and sixth coaches on the bench, and I want to commend them for that,” Stewart said. "They kept the team into it even though they had fouled out. They didn’t go and sit on the end of the bench and pout. They understood there was still a mission to accomplish.

“Everybody was just all in. I talked to them all year about being all in. It’s not just about one specific person. What we just accomplished, we needed a team to do it. I’ve been talking a lot about, at some point in the game, it’s winning time. And when it was winning time, we did what we needed to do.”

Sheals finished with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds. Dobson tallied 13 points and Boddie had 10.

For the Patriots, junior Arielle Fayson poured in 17 points. Green notched a 15-point, 10 rebound double-double.

The Bucs finished with a 21-8 record.

“For us to be where we are now, I couldn’t write it up any better,” Stewart said. “I just appreciate every single experience we’re having.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: GIRLS BASKETBALL: Mainland wins first FSHAA title in program history