Girls basketball Coach Mr. Samuel “Boozer” Baumgarten  reports that Miami High girls varsity basketball had a big season during 2024-25. The team had a lot of players from previous years and played a lot of games out of state. They lost in the regional championship game, but they did better than the previous year. 

The beginning of the season was sloppy, because they had one player that played volleyball and two other players that were injured. In some of his practices Coach Boozer would only have 5 or 6 players. “We really didn’t get our complete team until later into the season,” he said. “I think if we would have had a little bit more time, they would have been better.” 

One big accomplishment was winning the city championship, the GMAC. They were runner-up for the district when they lost to the same Doral team that went to the state. Individually, the whole starting five were All County whether first, second or 3rd teams.  

  Coach Boozer said one of the challenges he faced this year was injuries. 12th grader Jamir Cook was injured in the beginning, and he had to wait to get her back into the game. 11th grader Kai Gibson had a shoulder injury. She only played 6 or 7 games.  

Coach Boozer said that even if they lost like 11 games this season, it was against the top of the top competition. They  played the best teams in the state. The strength of their schedule only compares to the prep schools and private schools that are solid basketball schools. So, what they do as a public school is amazing. 

The team’s special end-of-the-year event was at Dave and Buster’s in March, a couple weeks before the season ended.  

The team will be active in the summer. Coach Boozer said he already started some workouts and then they have leagues and open gym that they do throughout the month of June.  

Some of the team’s best players from 2024-2025 are coming back to play basketball again for 2025-2026. Kai Gibson will be a senior next year, Carla Steins will be a senior, and Zoe Rowe will be a junior. 

Coach Boozer became the girls head basketball coach in 2010, and he has been with the program since 1997. He wanted to be the girls basketball head coach because he said, “Well, it was it was always instilled in me. I was a basketball player. My parents coached. So, what made me become a coach here was my parents. So, they were running the program, and then I came in and helped them out, and I have not left.”