Blanche Ely dominates rival Aquinas to secure BCAA Big 8 girls’ basketball title

Senior forward Gianna Corbitt scored 17 points and was named tournament MVP to lead Blanche Ely’s girls’ basketball team to an impressive 56-24 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in the BCAA Big 8 championship game at Fort Lauderdale High on Saturday night.

The Raiders (15-8), the three-time reigning state champions in Class 6A, were the two-time defending Big 8 champions and suffered their second loss of the season to Ely. The Tigers improved to 15-13 against the Raiders over the last decade.

“Obviously it’s a great feeling to beat them when we play two or three times a year,” Corbitt said. “We’ll probably see them again for another great match-up.”

The two teams could meet one more time in the regional playoffs and perhaps in the regional final round as each entered the week ranked in the top 10 overall in the FHSAA’s power rankings.

Ely (18-6) led 24-14 at the half, as Aquinas struggled to produce points. They didn’t score their first basket of the second quarter until Ka-Zahria Johnson scored with 2:16 left in the opening half.

Ely went on to outscore Aquinas 23-5 in the final quarter.

“We talk about it all the time, a win is a win whether it’s one-point or whatever it is,” Blanche Ely coach Henry McNabb said. “We want to just come out and win. I thought today we put all together for 32 minutes of basketball.”

The Big 8 championship was the third for Ely. They also defeated Aquinas in 2020-21. They also joined Dillard (8), South Broward (7), Deerfield Beach (3) and Nova (3) with at least three championships in the tournament.

The Raiders 24 points tied for the second fewest points against Ely since a 58-24 loss on Nov. 20, 2007.