American Heritage girls repeat as state champions, but a first-time champ led the way
The Thursday stage in Lakeland was familiar to most of the Plantation American Heritage girls’ basketball team. American Heritage won a state title for the first time in 2018 and brought back enough talent to get back to Class 6A championship again this season.
Paris Sharpe was one exception. Yes, she played at the RP Funding Center last year when she reached the Class 5A semifinals with Cardinal Gibbons, but the Patriots’ senior leader had never gotten to play for a state championship. She even admitted Wednesday after American Heritage won in the 6A semifinals she was nervous about trying to drive the Patriots’ repeat.
Her nerves were all gone by the time she took the court Thursday. Sharpe wrapped up her lone season at American Heritage with a dominant championship performance. The power forward carried the Patriots’ offense with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting to American Heritage overcome another slow start to blow out Jacksonville Bishop Kenny, 58-40, at George W. Jenkins Arena.
“Honestly, I was kind of nervous, but I realized that I’ve just got to come out and play,” Sharpe said after the win. “Before I even stepped on the court, I let it go. I prayed. I let it go.”
She started strong and the Patriots (21-9) never trailed in its second ever appearance in a state championship. Sharpe made her first three shots to jolt American Heritage to an early 10-2 and the Patriots’ defense handled the rest. A day after securing its spot in the 6A championship by forcing Weeki Wachee into 34 turnovers, American Heritage forced Bishop Kenny (29-3) into seven first-quarter turnovers while surrendering only six shots. The Crusaders finished with 28 turnovers and attempted 34 shots.
The Patriots’ offense, however, was far from perfect, too. American Heritage committed 21 turnovers and went just 2 of 12 from three-point range. Bishop Kenny tried to take the three away from the typically sharpshooting Patriots, which opened up the paint for Sharpe and fellow post player Taliyah Wyche, who went 4 of 4 for 11 points.
Those two buried the Crusaders early in the second quarter, combining for American Heritage’s first 12 points to turn a 26-15 halftime lead into a 38-19 edge.
“I thought they would do opposite. They worried about outside shooters, so what they did is they left an opening inside,” coach Greg Farias said after the win. “From that point we said let’s go inside. I spread it out, changed all my outlets and just said, ‘Feed the beast,’ and that was Paris.”
Sharpe wasn’t the Patriots’ only newcomer — senior shooting guard Jenna Laue was one their top three-point shooters — but she was the logical fit to replace some of the scoring burden left by Femi Funeus, now a forward for the Seton Hall Pirates, and Ty Willis, now a forward for the Central Florida Knights.
“They told me my job was to come help them lead them again, and I came out here and I didn’t even lead,” Sharpe said. “We all did this together.”
Her integration into the lineup is one explanation for why American Heritage lost five in a row at the end of 2018. Sharpe joined the Patriots in the summer to play with them in the offseason and said the transition wasn’t exactly smooth. She could score in the post like she always had, but American Heritage emphasizes shooting, so she had to put in plenty of extra work on her jumper.
By their final game of 2018, the Patriots turned a corner. American Heritage closed out the calendar with a win in the Naplese Holiday Shootout to kick off the homestretch. With their win Thursday, the Patriots close out the season with 12 wins in 13 games and the only loss was to Miami Country Day, the No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25.
“We struggled a little bit at the beginning because of the new girls,” Farias said, “but once the chemistry came in this is what I expected.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 8:51 PM.
