Aquinas girls’ basketball team avenges earlier loss to Ely to repeat as BCAA champion
Not much fazes St. Thomas Aquinas senior guard Karina Gordon.
During the first quarter of the BCAA Big 8 girls’ basketball final on Saturday night at South Plantation, Gordon took an accidental shot to the eye while battling her opponent near the rim.
It wasn’t long before Gordon cleared her vision and was back on the court making winning plays for the Raiders though.
Gordon scored eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Raiders win a low-scoring, defensive struggle, 45-38 over Blanche Ely and capture their second consecutive BCAA tournament title.
“Karina has been in so many big games during her four years that this is nothing for her,” Aquinas coach Oliver Berens said. “She’s there time and time again for us.”
The Raiders (17-8) avenged an earlier loss this season to the Tigers (19-3) and pulled away with their defense over the final three minutes of the game.
Aquinas beat Ely for the second consecutive season in the Big 8 final and the teams met in the final for the third time in the past four seasons.
After Blanche Ely cut St. Thomas’ lead to 41-38 with 2:58 left, Khadee Hession hit a jumper to make it a two-possession game again.
The Raiders, who blocked eight shots as a team, held Ely scoreless on its final three possessions and Gordon hit two clutch free throws to put the game out of reach.
“I’m just proud of our girls and the intensity and grit that they brought tonight especially on the defensive end,” Berens said. “We made enough plays on offense to get it done.”
Aquinas won its fifth consecutive game, which has included wins over perennial state powerhouses Miami Country Day and Plantation American Heritage.
Gordon was named the Marcia Pinder tournament MVP.
“We started out not like ourselves this season, but we’ve been turning it up,” Gordon said. “We’ve been playing our best basketball ever since we beat American Heritage and we’re going to keep getting better.”
Added Berens: “We’ve played a national schedule and took some losses against high-quality competition. I feel like all of that adversity got us ready for moments like this. I was proud of our girls and I feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now.”
Nyla McFadden led the Raiders with a game-high 15 points and Reina Green added nine points. Gianna Corbitt led the Tigers with 10 points.
But numerous turnovers kept Ely from scoring more than once on back-to-back possessions throughout the game.
With Aquinas and Ely in the same region, the teams could face off again on the road to state.
“We just have to take care of the basketball and execute our offense,” Blanche Ely coach Henry McNabb said. “We had a lot of mental lapses and missed assignments tonight but we’ll go back and watch film and correct what we need to correct.”
