Williams, Farias are the Broward Girls’ Basketball Coaches of the Year
American Heritage’s streak of consecutive seasons advancing to the state final four appeared to be in jeopardy.
And St. Thomas Aquinas was missing two of its key players, and at risk of coming up short of a state championship once again.
But their coaches, Greg Farias (American Heritage) and Emily Williams (St. Thomas Aquinas) found ways to steer their teams through adversity.
And so, Farias and Williams are the Miami Herald’s Broward County Girls’ Basketball Coaches of the Year.
In her first season coaching at Aquinas, Williams guided the Raiders back to the top in Class 6A.
Aquinas won its fifth state title in the past six seasons, culminating with a 65-22 rout of Palm Bay Bayside in the final.
But the path to said championship was bumpy for the Raiders.
Aquinas needed to overcome the absence for extended amounts of time during the season of starting forward Isabella Sangha and starting guard Ronneisha Thomas. Sangha, a Notre Dame commit, missed the start of the season with a fractured foot and Thomas later missed the latter part of the season with a hand injury.
Aquinas was an underdog in the playoffs after losing the BCAA Big 8 title game to rival Nova. But the Raiders got healthy at the right time and avenged that defeat to return to the state final four after a one-year absence.
American Heritage lost players from last season’s run to the state final, and they didn’t come back.
But even after multiple starters transferred out, Farias saw former reserves or role players such as 4A-1A Player of the Year Isabella Aloisio and first team All-Broward selections Yinuo Wang and Sarah-Renee Ingraham turn into leaders and propel the Patriots back to the state tournament for a state-record 10th consecutive season.
Although Heritage came up short following a semifinal loss to Jacksonville Bishop Kenny, its roster is expected to return nearly intact and experienced as it reloads for another state run.
