Pine Crest girls’ basketball wins first regional game in 21 years

Little did members of the Pine Crest girls’ basketball team know when the clock hit all zeroes on Thursday night that they had accomplished something that hadn’t been done since before they were born.

They won a regional playoff game.

Thanks to big games from seniors Haley Mordis and Sarah Hancock, the Panthers traveled to Monsignor Pace for a Region 4-5A quarterfinal contest to take on the favored Spartans and came away with a 42-37 victory.

It marked the program’s first regional win since a 45-21 victory over Ransom Everglades all the way back in 1998, snapping a streak of nine consecutive losses, including a 47-35 loss at Pace in the same round last year.

Pine Crest advances to next week’s regional semifinals and will travel to University School for a rematch of last week’s close district final loss to the Sharks. There the Panthers will try and do something the program hasn’t done since all the way back in 1976 (the first year girls’ basketball was sanctioned by the FHSAA) and advance to a regional final.

“Wow! Really? How cool is that,” said Mordis, who led all scorers with 19 points when informed of the team’s historical accomplishment. “When we lost districts last week, that was tough but we just came in here tonight with all of the seniors and said we were going to leave it all out on the floor and it’s so great that we kept fighting and found a way.”

After a sluggish first half that saw them struggle from the floor missing 15 of their first 16 shots, the Spartans, led by Andrea Daley (16 points) finally got things cranked in the third quarter going on a 15-5 run to turn a 21-19 deficit into a 34-26 lead in the waning seconds of the third quarter.

But as hot as they got in the third, Pace (17-7) went ice cold in the fourth scoring just one point over the first seven minutes as Pine Crest (17-6) cranked up the defense with multiple traps creating turnovers and layups to outscore Pace 16-1 until a Spartans basket with 30 seconds left completed the scoring.

“This is insane for our program,” said Hancock, who was the real workhorse for the Panthers scoring 15 points while also pulling down 19 rebounds and recording four steals. “With five seniors on this team, this is a huge accomplishment. We’ve been working towards this for the past four years. It showed our great teamwork and how well we work together as seniors and its great to leave this kind of mark on this program.”

▪ Reigon 3-8A quarterfinal - St. Thomas Aquinas 58, West Boca 43: The result was expected.

How they got there was uncharacteristic of how the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team has played most of the season.

Despite a slow start and at times sloppy execution, the Raiders finished with a 58-43 victory over West Boca in a Region 3-8A quarterfinal game at St, Thomas Aquinas High on Thursday.

The Raiders (20-6) will host the Blanche Ely-Palm Beach Lakes winner in a regional semifinal on Tuesday.

Junior guard Bella LaChance provided enough offense to lead the Raiders, finishing with a game-high 17 points. Their 58 points tied a season low for points in a victory this season. Entering the game, the Raiders averaged 79.3 points in their previous 19 wins.

“We know in the playoffs these games can be sloppy, but we did enough to win,” said St. Thomas Aquinas coach Oliver Berens. “We made a lot of plays on defense and kept the tempo the way we wanted it and made plays when we needed to.”

The Bulls (19-7) led much of the first quarter, led by a pair of 3-pointers from Carly Salk. Aquinas gained control with a 17-7 second quarter and never trailed again.

The Raiders, who are typically sharp from the free throw line, struggled making 14 of 25 attempts.

“We missed a lot of shots, but we won the game based on our defense,” LaChance said. “In the post season, we’re going to have to game with our defense.”

Aquinas took and help onto the lead by forcing the Bulls into poor shots and turnovers.

Abby Hsu added 11 points and Samara Spencer had 10 points.

Sophomore guard Tamaya Patterson led West Boca with 11 points, while Douthshine Prien had 10 points.

-Dave Brousseau

More regional quarterfinal results

▪ CLASS 9A: Deerfield Beach 68, Cypress Bay 38; Coral Springs 43, Piper 37; Miramar 64, Dr. Krop 54; Miami High 66, Everglades 31; Lourdes 66, Miami Killian 31.

▪ CLASS 8A: St. Thomas Aquinas 58, West Boca 43; Nova 81, Mourning 12; South Broward 49, Mater Academy 45.

▪ CLASS 7A: Dillard 66, Jensen Beach 41; Nova 81, Mourning 12; South Broward 49, Mater Academy 45; Palm Bay Heritage 62, Boyd Anderson 18; Norland 60, TERRA 10; Miami Central 60, Doral Academy 32.

▪ CLASS 6A: Lincoln Park 64, Archbishop McCarthy 54; Plantation American Heritage 64, Suncoast 22.

▪ CLASS 5A: Oxbridge Academy 81, St. Andrew’s 13; University School 57, Miami Edison 41; Gulliver Prep 68, Coral Shores 32; Keys Gate 63, Carrollton School 56.

Regional semifinal results

▪ CLASS 4A: Miami Country Day 64, Benjamin 31.

▪ CLASS 3A: Lake Worth Christian 61, Posnack 40; Highlands Christian at Somerset Prep (No report).

▪ CLASS 2A: Grandview Prep 55, Northwest Christian 16; Miami Christian 63, Atlantic Christian 18

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

▪ District 8-3A final: Champagnat 55, Hebrew Academy 52: Champ – Borell 16, Rodriguez 16, Vargas 7, Diaz 6, Salzar 4, Galyo 1; HA – Lurie 17, Stein 16, Goldring 13, Farkas 6.

▪ District 16-9A semifinal: Killian 61, Homestead 47 – KIL 19-7

▪ District 16-5A semifinal: Westminster Christian 88, Pinecrest Prep 31: WC – Montavlo 40, Taylor 19, Bell 7, Laidler 7, Brown 5, Lezcano 3, Castaneda 2. PCP – La Rua 7, Herrera 5, Chirino 5, Santiesteban 4, Oquendo 4, Padran 3, Santos 2, Bastidas 1.

▪ District 16-7A semifinal: Doral 63, Miami Jackson 31: DA – Carter 35, Pellerano 11, Nuñez 9, Mercado 4, Alawie 4. JAX – Romer 13, Prosper 7, Baker 6, Alexander 3, Lawton 2.

▪ District 14-9A semifinal: Miami High 61, Miami Beach 57: MHS – Neely 27, McBride 15, Clavero 7, Davis 5, Dorcely 3, Louissaint 2, Arias 2. MB – Bernstein 14, Patterson 14, Gray 10, Vincent 9, Charles 8, Codio 2. Rebounds: Neely 19.

GIRLS’ LACROSSE

▪ Cooper City 5, Calvary Christian 4.