St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball cruises to first state-title appearance since 1994
There aren’t many sports St. Thomas Aquinas hasn’t won a state championship in. The girls’ basketball team is one win away from making the list one team shorter.
The Raiders cruised into the Class 8A championship Friday with a 67-46 rout of St. Cloud in the 8A semifinals at the RP Funding Center. St. Thomas Aquinas will face Tampa Bay Tech in the 8A title game Saturday at 4 p.m. in Lakeland with a shot at its first state championship.
“Part of our mission here at St. Thomas is to uphold the legacy, and there’s been a culture set at the school from the athletic program and a certain standard set,” coach Oliver Berens said at his postgame press conference. “We want to continue that excellence and we want to make sure that we represent our whole entire school and our athletic program.”
The Raiders’ press frustrated the Bulldogs early at George W. Jenkins Arena, holding St. Cloud to only nine points in the first quarter and five turnovers. On the offensive end, St. Thomas Aquinas (23-6) dominated the Bulldogs (29-3) on the boards to take a 19-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Star forward Angelee Rodriguez, who is already committed to the South Florida Bulls, finished with 13 points and seven rebounds after scoring 10 in the first quarter. The junior cracked double figures thanks to her work on the offensive glass. Rodriguez grabbed four rebounds in the first period, three of which came on the offensive end and led to immediate putbacks. Eight of those 10 first-quarter points came on second chances as star guard Halie Murphy found Rodriguez for another layup after one of her offensive rebounds.
St. Cloud never again cut the lead to single digits and the Raiders eased into the state title game for the second time in program history — and first time since 1994 — as all five starters scored in double figures for St. Thomas Aquinas. Star point guard Bella LaChance, already committed to the Vanderbilt Commodores as a junior, scored a game-high 19 points and star sophomore guard Samara Spencer added 10 points. Murphy, who has signed a National Letter of Intent with the St. Francis Red Flash, chipped in another 14 points and eight rebounds, and star wing Abigail Hsu, committed to the Columbia Lions, fell one rebound short of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Heading into Saturday, only six varsity teams at the Fort Lauderdale private school don’t have a state title to their name. The girls’ basketball team is one of the few for an athletic program with 108 total state championships. The Raiders can change that when they face the Titans (28-3) back at Jenkins Arena this weekend.
“It’s been 25 years since we’ve even made it to the final four and it’s our chance now,” Murphy said at the postgame press conference, “and we know that we are capable of winning and we’ve been working so hard for this every day, hitting the gym, getting our shots up, trusting each other, trusting our own shots, our decisions.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 6:10 PM.
