TAMPA, Fla. - As the final seconds ticked down, the reality began setting in.

“I was like, oh my god we’re about to do this as a team and for Coach Mahon and it’s just the feeling, i don’t know, it’s just exciting,” Plant senior guard Nyla Jean said.

“As soon as the clocked ticked out, everyone ran in for the huddle, I just looked around,” Plant junior center Hayden Stern said. “I couldn’t believe what was truly happening.”

The celebration was immediate. The Plant High Lady Panthers made history, winning the school’s first girls basketball state championship.

“It just makes me smile because just being able to make an impact just being on a high school team is just crazy,” senior Annika Johnson said.

It was a total team effort. Contributions from everyone on the Plant roster led to this moment. But there was someone who wasn’t on the court who helped make history. Someone in the stands cheering on her mom.

Plant coach Carrie Mahon waited a long time for this moment. Her team came close last year, losing in the championship game to the same team they defeated for their first title. It took countless hours of practice, preparation, even a little revenge mixed in to get the win.

But Coach Mahon truly believes it doesn’t happen without her daughter, Maggie Mahon.

“I wouldn’t be the person that I am without the blessings of Maggie Mahon,” Coach Mahon said.

Maggie Mahon loves Barbies. She loves basketball. She loves the Lady Panthers. She’s a proud Plant High graduate, crowned the school’s Homecoming Queen in 2015. Maggie is also on the autistic spectrum.

“Before I had Maggie in my life, i was really impatient,” Mahon said. “Like, you got one shot at something and if you didn’t do it right, then we were going to move on. You learn very quickly when you have a child with ASD, that not only are there going to be second and third chances, but sometimes you might get up into triple digits.”

Parents of children with autism crave acceptance and Coach Mahon is no different. Inclusion is very important to her. It’s why her teams are always so close. Everyone is welcome.

“The culture is selflessness, it’s loving everyone,” Stern said. “It’s doing it for your teammate, not doing it for yourself.”

You can coach X’s and O’s. You can break down film. You can be loaded with talent. But when you have a group as tight knit as the Lady Panthers, the dream of a state championship became reality.

“Coach Mahon is the most patient person I know and of course, her daughter Maggie played a huge role in that,” Stern said. “I’ve never met an adult that respects kids so much. She doesn’t talk down or patronize us. She treats us like equals and to find that in a coach is so rare.”

“To accomplish something that she sought after for 19 years, and now us for four, together in Lakeland, it was just perfect,” senior forward Kendal Cheesman said. “It was how we needed to end it.”

After 38 years as either a player or a coach. Carrie Mahon finally won the last basketball game of the season. She did it with a group of young women who are more family than team. And she did it with her special fan in the stands.

“I just can’t imagine a more selfless, passionate, hard working, just humble group of women,” Mahon said. “So, it’s almost like maybe I had to do it 37 times wrong to get it right.”