“It wasn’t always easy this year,” said Wayne Ackett, the school’s athletic director who coaches basketball. “They had to work. They had to show resilience and composure. They showed their heart.”

Ackett knew he had an exceptional group when the core came out for junior varsity tryouts in 2021.

“The talent was immediately apparent,” he said. “We had three very experienced players and a few more pure athletes.”

They won the JV title before moving up to capture two straight varsity championships. That JV team was led by Jovie Hayes, who in her lone season at Weightman scored 100 points. Arianna Murray followed with 92.

The core, which included Lila Smith, Alexis Cruz and Jada Johnson, was joined by Charity Davis on last season’s varsity championship team. Smith wound up with a team-leading 137 points with Murray adding 127.

Davis and Murray dominated on the boards with Ackett estimating his team snagged 95 percent of the rebounds that year.

Just for good measure, the JV team also won a title that season. Kiera Montford ran the point with Arianna Sutherland and Bailey Garrison dominating in rebounds.

In all, six players — Johnson, Smith, Cruz, Sutherland, Montford and Garrison — are three-time champions.

“These girls will always have a special place in my heart,” Ackett said.

This season, Davis was the lone eighth-grade starter with Montford and Sutherland moving up from the JV squad. But Murray transferred to North Tampa Christian and Garrison suffered a season-ending concussion playing volleyball.

“I was looking to finally have some bench depth,” Ackett said.

No matter. Smith scored 169 points, closing out her career with a school-record 336 that includes boys and girls teams. Johnson, a strong rebounder, scored 139 points to finish her career with 212.