After finally breaking through to state, Blanche Ely girls dominate semifinal
Pompano Beach Blanche Ely coach James Green was on the Tigers’ coaching staff the last time their girls’ basketball team won a state championship in 2020.
Ely spent the past five seasons since that last title - the third for its program - ending seasons with frustrating losses in the regional playoffs. The first four came against Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, with the Tigers’ rivals going on to win state titles each time.
Last season, Aquinas and Ely were put in separate classifications. And Ely still lost a two-point heartbreaker in the regional final to Oakland Park Northeast.
Green returned to Ely’s sideline last season as head coach with one simple message to his girls.
“Since May, we’ve been preaching ‘state championship,’” Green said. “These girls have been locked in since.”
This year, the Tigers weren’t to be denied.
And on Wednesday afternoon, Ely played like a team on a mission when it dominated St. Petersburg on its way to a 57-38 win in a Class 5A state semifinal at UNF Arena.
Ely (21-5) advanced to Friday’s 5A championship game where it will play Pensacola Washington at 5:30.
“These girls love playing together and I haven’t had a problem at all this season with shot selection. These kids like sharing the ball,” said Green, who coached as an assistant from 2017-2020 at Ely. “And we’ve had a strong size advantage in most of our games too.”
After St. Petersburg (21-8) scored the game’s first two points, Ely junior guard Sariyah Sabb connected on a three-pointer and the Tigers were off and running. Ely never trailed again and led by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Sabb led the Tigers with 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks while Maiyah Standifer had nine points and 12 rebounds.
“I just feel like I can give a lot of energy to my teammates and we fought,” Sabb said. “We did it all together.”
Sabb is in her first season at Ely after transferring from Somerset Prep, along with Isyss Mims, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
They’ve added to a cohesive group, which was one of the best defensive teams in Broward County this season. On Wednesday, the Tigers gave another demonstration as they finished with 21 steals overall, led by Aniyah Gooden’s five takeaways. Gooden also had 10 points.
“All year, we’ve been saying if we defend and rebound we’re going to be hard to beat,” Green said. “We did today and now we’re here.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2026 at 2:44 PM.
