Aquinas girls overcome setbacks during season, restore championship tradition
St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team had a mystique about them during its recent run of four consecutive state championships from 2021 to 2024.
Then the challenges arose.
Former coach Oliver Berens departed.
The Raiders were surprisingly eliminated in the regional semifinals last season, halting that title streak.
This season began with high hopes and then senior forward Isabella Sangha fractured her foot, forcing her to miss half the season. Then, senior guard Ronneisha Thomas suffered a hand injury, forcing her to miss the latter part of the season.
Nothing would end up derailing Aquinas from restoring their state championship tradition.
Both Sangha and Thomas returned in time to lead the Raiders down the stretch and back to the state tournament.
And on Saturday, the Raiders emphatically closed out a tumultuous 2025-26 campaign as well as can be with a 65-22 mercy-rule victory over Palm Bay Bayside in the Class 6A state championship game at UNF Arena.
“I’m super proud of this group for overcoming the adversity we had,” first-year Aquinas coach Emily Williams said. “Isabella missed half the season and once she got back, Ronneisha went down. Luckily we got her back in time to hit the winning shot in the regional final. It speaks volumes to the work ethic of this team and how they kept working and never quit.”
Aquinas’ victory, coupled with its boys’ triumph just a couple of hours earlier in a state championship win over Orlando Evans, made the Raiders the first Broward County school to win boys and girls basketball state titles in the same season. Aquinas is the eighth school to accomplish this feat statewide.
The Raiders’ girls (22-8) left no doubt on their way to a fifth state title in six seasons.
Aquinas scored the first 16 points of the game and led 43-7 by halftime, prompting the 35-point mercy rule and a running clock to open the second half.
“The girls were so ready for this moment,” Williams said. “We were preparing for it all season. We kept saying, ‘32 minutes, take it a game at a time.’ If we took care of little things, we knew we would win.”
For the group on the floor for Aquinas on Saturday, it was a new feeling being a state champion as none of them played during the most recent state title season in 2024.
Sophomore guard London Thomas led the Raiders with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists.
“We went through a lot of adversity this season,” Thomas said. “People doubted we could do it, but we proved them wrong. It’s amazing. St. Thomas is a great program and it’s great to be a part of this.”
Sophomore point guard Catalina LaFreniere totaled 17 points, four assists and four steals. Aquinas had 16 steals as a team and scored 27 points off 25 turnovers by the Bears (23-9).
“Just giving it all on the court and playing hard defense,” LaFreniere said. “I’ve never won it before, so this is amazing. I’m so happy right now.”
The Raiders heard the doubts more after losing the BCAA Big 8 final to rival Davie Nova in late January.
Ronneisha Thomas returned from her injury just in time for Aquinas’ regional final rematch against Nova, and had 13 points, four steals and three assists in the victory.
Sangha, a Notre Dame commit for both basketball and volleyball, returned from her injury on Jan. 2, and quickly integrated into the Raiders’ lineup. She had 10 points and 11 rebounds against Bayside.
“I’m just so happy for my team. They deserve it,” Williams said. “The noise has been loud all season, but we kept telling them to ignore all of that outside noise. The girls trusted each other and played for each other for 32 minutes and that’s why this team is special.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2026 at 5:18 PM.
