During a summer basketball workout in 2017, Maria Alvarez -- the point guard they call "Grandma" because she's been playing varsity basketball since seventh grade and has seemingly been around forever -- spotted a player she recognized.
"Oh, snap," Alvarez said to newcomer Koi Love. "I know exactly who you are."
Love, formerly of Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, Florida), had joined Alvarez on the Miami Country Day Spartans (Miami, Florida) prior to their junior seasons.
Today, players and coaches across the country know exactly who both Love and Alvarez are. The senior duo forms the heart of the team that ascended to the No.1 spot in the espnW 25 Power Rankings on Tuesday.
Their story goes back to the 2014-15 season, when Miami Country Day beat Lake Highland Prep, 73-56. Two years later, Love was at Montverde Academy (Montverde, Florida) when her team got beat 43-30 by Miami Country Day.
Love never forgot those games. And as the saying goes, if you can't beat them ...
"Ever since then, I had always wanted to play for them," Love said. "[Miami Country Day's Ochiel Swaby] is an amazing coach with an amazing track record, and I felt I wasn't getting any better."
Love, a 6-foot forward and the No. 89 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 for the 2019 class, enrolled at Miami Country Day just a couple of months after the Spartans had traveled to New York City where they won the Dick's National Championship in April 2017 for the second time. Two elite guards graduated from that team -- Kelsey Marshall, who now plays for the University of Miami, and Channise Lewis, now at Maryland.
Last season, Alvarez, who has signed with the University of South Florida, and Love, who has signed with Vanderbilt, led the Spartans to their fifth straight state title.
Even so, Alvarez wasn't satisfied.
The Spartans had a 31-1 record in the final season of Marshall and Lewis. Last season, their record slipped to 19-10.
"Personally, I didn't consider it a successful year," Alvarez said. "In the previous five years, we hadn't exceeded six losses. ... It's hard to comprehend how bad we did last season."
At 20-1, the Spartans are back to their previous form, ready to make a run at their seventh straight state final and their sixth consecutive title. A trip to New York for the national finals also appears likely.
"Last year, we got caught in transition," Swaby said. "It was our first year without Channise and Kelsey, and we had a young team in flux.
"This year, we found our chemistry."
Learning from loss
This season did not get off to a great start -- not by Spartans standards. In the fifth game, MCD was upset by Tampa Bay Tech, 58-57.
The Spartans then had 11 days off before their next game, which was at the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona.
Swaby used that break to put his team to work.
"That was 'Torture Week,'" Alvarez said. "I saw it coming. 'Coach O' hasn't changed in six years. When we lose, he's going to make us pay."
Love said there was a lot of running that week. A lot. In one drill, 35 seconds are put on the scoreboard, and each player has to run the court 5½ times before the clock ticks to zero. If even one player fails, the whole team runs again.
"There were days when we did drills for an hour straight," Love said. "[Swaby] pushed us to our limits. We called it 'Hell Week.'"
The Spartans survived that week and arrived in Phoenix in shape and confident.
In fact, at a welcome dinner for all the teams the night before the start of the tournament, the Spartans showed their swagger. There was music playing at the hotel restaurant, and when the dance floor opened, Miami Country Day owned it.
The next night, the Spartans started a remarkable run of four wins over top teams in four days, taking the prestigious TOC title. MCD beat Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, New York) 51-42; St. John's College (Washington, D.C.) 44-41; New Hope Academy (Landover Hills, Maryland) 61-60 in overtime; and Windward (Los Angeles) 52-51.
Alvarez was named the tournament's MVP, and Love made the all-tournament team. In the 22-year history of the TOC, Miami Country Day is just the second Florida school to win the event.
The following week, the Spartans won another major tournament, taking the Naples Holiday Shootout with a 3-0 record. This time, Love was the MVP, and Alvarez made the all-tournament team.
On Jan. 18-19, the Spartans took their show to Philadelphia, beating a pair of teams in their home gyms -- Germantown Academy by 18 points and Neumann-Goretti by 20.
"We pride ourselves on the fact that we are not afraid to play anyone, even in their home gym," Miami Country Day assistant coach Jenna Kochen said. "When we saw Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Maryland) was ranked No. 1 earlier this season, we reached out to them for a game. Unfortunately, their schedule was full."
Odd couple
Alvarez has been transformed from a player who once waited for Marshall and Lewis to set her up with an open shot to a leader, albeit a quiet one.
In fact, when the 5-foot-7 Alvarez -- who was born in Pereira, Colombia -- needs to tell someone something, she will usually pull that person aside and deliver the message discreetly.
Love, born in Atlanta, takes a different approach. She is more likely to shout her message from the other side of the court.
Despite the different approaches, the two have blended their talents beautifully. Love leads the team in scoring (16.9) and rebounding (10.6). Alvarez is averaging 14.8 points and leads the team in assists (4.5).
No other player on the team averages double figures, although 5-foot-10 freshman Sydney Shaw is close (9.1). Chantell Gonzalez, a 6-foot-7 junior, is averaging 2.5 blocks and is a bit of a rock star.
"When we go out to eat, little kids always ask to take pictures with her," Love said. "She's famous."
All 14 players on this talented roster contribute, including the Theodule sisters -- Jayda is a 5-foot-7 senior and Emani is a 5-foot-6 freshman.
But there's no question that the team's two biggest components are Love and Alvarez, and they combined to create the Spartans' signature play of the season.
MCD was trailing New Hope Academy 60-57 with 12 seconds left in their Nike Tournament of Champions semifinal.
New Hope had the ball on the MCD defensive half of the court, and Alvarez was already thinking this would be a crushing defeat.
But Love forced the player she was guarding to pick up her dribble on the baseline. That player made the costly decision to pass to a teammate out by half court, where Alvarez was waiting.
"I remember that play vividly," Alvarez said. "When she threw the ball, I said, 'There's no way this girl threw that.'
"I was shocked, but, yeah, I got the steal, and I immediately knew I was going to go for the 3 [to tie the score]. I hear [Swaby] saying, 'Shoot the 3,' and I'm thinking, 'Don't worry. I got you.'"
Indeed, Alvarez leaned forward in the air and knocked down the 3-pointer from the top of the key, drawing contact.
Two of her teammates picked Alvarez off the ground and started chest-bumping her. Alvarez was hyped, but she calmly told her teammates: "I still have to make the free throw."
Alvarez, who said she wasn't nervous, made the free throw the same way she hit the 3-pointer -- straight swish. And New Hope, with just 3.6 seconds left, inbounded the ball and missed a desperation shot at the buzzer, giving the Spartans a win that kept their national titles hope alive.
"My phone blew up after that, and I gained 400 followers on Twitter," Alvarez said. "That was for sure the top play of my career."
