TAMPA, Fla - You can’t fake this.

You can’t coach this.

Together isn’t just a word on the backs of the Plant girls basketball  jersey’s. It’s a mantra.

"We’re not forced, like that’s what we want to do," junior Kendal Cheesman said.

The clapping, the encouragement, together results in a gym full of love.

"It’s just the culture, at this point in our program where generally everybody is so concerned about the other player," head coach Carrie Mahon said.

The Plant Panthers are making a run this postseason. The finish line? Hopefully Lakeland and the Final Four. Coach Carrie Mahon made it in 2004, her second season as the Panthers head coach. If they make it back this year, she deserves a lot of the credit.

"She’s kind of chill, you know," junior guard Nyla Jean said. "Some practice we’ll have fun time and then other practices will be completely serious."

"She understands the different personalities we have on the team and she tends to each one to help them kind of like find their successes and like get better," Cheesman said.

For 25 years, this has been Coach Mahon’s life. Once a star on the court for the Plant City Raiders, Mahon considers herself more of a people person than a coach.

"Every day when I come to work, I expect to learn and I expect to change and I expect to grow," Mahon said. "The day that I come to work and don’t have those expectations, you know I think probably it will be over for me."

Expectations are high this season for these Panthers. And Coach Mahon constructed an intense schedule to set her team up for a late season run.

January opponents included some of the top teams in the area, including a win over defending state champs Tampa Bay Tech, Coach Mahon’s 500^th win.

"We did that for a reason so that when we got to the end of February we would be ready," Mahon said.

Together. A culture of togetherness is helping to create a winning culture.

"I’m a big believer that people who care about each other play harder for each other," Mahon said.