10 area girls’ basketball teams are heading to Lakeland to compete for state titles
Lakeland will once again have a South Florida feel to it.
Ten area girls’ basketball teams will compete at the RP Funding Center for a chance at their respective classification’s state title.
Classes 1A, 2A and 3A will hold their state semifinal games on Monday with finals on Tuesday. Classes 4A, 5A and 6A have semifinals on Wednesday and finals on Thursday. Class 7A, 8A and 9A have semifinals on Friday and finals on Saturday.
Here’s how the teams got there.
Class 9A: Miami High and Deerfield Beach
The Miami High girls’ basketball team is one win away from a shot at redemption.
The Stingarees once again advanced to the state semifinals, this time following a 64-33 win over Lourdes Academy in the Region 4-9A final on Friday night. They will face Orlando Oak Ridge at 8 p.m. Friday for a chance to reach the state championship.
Senior Shekinah Rachel led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds, while junior forward Colleen Bucknor added 15 points of her own.
Miami High (27-5) outscored its opponents by an average of 27.7 points over the course of three regional games. The Stingarees now hope to once again play in the state championship match, where they fell last year to Spruce Creek 44-43.
On the other side of the Class 9A bracket, Deerfield Beach cruised to a 69-51 win over Boca Raton in the Region 3-9A final. The Bucks also had wins over Cypress Bay (68-36) and Coral Springs (44-35) to reach the regional finals. Deerfield Beach will face Wekiva on Friday at 6 p.m.
Class 8A: St. Thomas Aquinas
The 25-year drought for the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team is over.
Led by Samara Spencer’s 24 points, the Raiders defeated host Nova 54-37 in a Region 4-8A final on Friday.
Aquinas (22-6) will play St. Cloud next Friday at 4 p.m. in the state semifinal. Coincidentally, St. Thomas hasn’t played in the Final Four since losing to St. Cloud 51-44 in the 1994 championship game.
“We played incredible defense all game,” said St. Thomas coach Oliver Berens. “We stuck to the game plan and made plans that helped us extend the lead in the second half. We’re very happy that we’re going to Lakeland.”
Aquinas has now defeated Nova in back-to-back games since losing 21-consecutive games to them dating back to the start of 2007.
Spencer dominated offensively in the second half, producing 20 of her 24 in the final 16 minutes. But it was her back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter that buried Nova for good.
“I was focused, and we knew that we had beaten Nova in the Big 8 and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy fight,” said Spencer. “This a big accomplishment in school history for us.”
Leading by two at halftime, Aquinas began to slowly pull away in the third quarter as Spencer and Bella LaChance combined for 14 points to push the lead to 36-27.
The Raiders kept the Titans (24-5) offense off balance all night. Gabriella Gonzalez and Trinity Delancy, who combined for 29 points in their regional semifinal win on Tuesday, where held to three points. Only a Gonzalez three-pointer with 4:12 left in the game prevented them from being shutout.
Nova’s 37 points tied a season low.
“This is insane,” said LaChance. “Tonight, we came in here, worked as a team and finished it. We came here prepared and focused and got it done.”
Senior guard Kayla Massop led Nova with 15 points, while Joey Delancy added 10 points.
“Two of our leading scorers didn’t score tonight,” said Nova coach Jason Hively. “That was it.”
St. Thomas led 17-15 in a low scoring first half as each team struggled to find the basket.
Aquinas led most the half after overcoming a 5-2 deficit with a 10-0 run in the first quarter. Hsu had six points in the quarter.
-Dave Brousseau
Class 7A: Dillard
For the third time in five years, the Dillard Panthers are back in the state semifinals, edging out Norland 48-41 in the Region 4-7A final. Dillard (24-5) is now two wins away from securing its 10th all-time state title.
Class 6A: Plantation American Heritage
Are back-to-back state titles in the work for Plantation American Heritage? Two more wins would secure that.
The Patriots are back in the state semifinals following a 63-26 win over Bishop Moore. Heritage (19-9), which has won five straight with four of those victories coming by at least 37 points, plays Weeki Wachee in the state semis.
Class 5A: Keys Gate
In one sense, Keys Gate has already made history by landing its first trip to the state semifinals. The Knights (27-4) want more than that, though.
Keys Gate has won 14 of its past 15 games, most recently a 67-31 win over University School for its first Region 4-5A title. Sophomore Amari Hunter is leading the team in scoring, averaging 20.3 points per game.
Keys Gate will face defending state runner-up Lake Highland Prep in the state semis.
Class 4A: Miami Country Day and SLAM Academy
An all-Miami-Dade final is possible in Class 4A.
Miami Country Day, ranked No. 1 nationally by MaxPreps, is looking for its sixth consecutive state title and is poised to do just that. The Spartans (24-1) has blown out most opponents, with its lone loss being a 58-57 defeat to Tampa Bay Tech earlier in the season. Country Day faces P.K. Yonge in the state semis.
On the other side of the bracket, SLAM Academy is in the state semis for a third consecutive year after defeating Palmer Trinity 65-31 in the regional finals. SLAM will face Carrollwood Day for a spot in the championshpi.
Class 3A: Somerset Prep
A rematch of last year’s Class 3A championship is taking place in the semifinals this year. Somerset Prep (11-10), which won its first girls’ basketball state title in 2018, takes on Orlando Christian Prep for a spot in the 2019 title match against either Florida A&M or Canterbury. Somerset Prep won the matchup last year 70-34.
Class 2A: Miami Christian
A year ago, Miami Christian didn’t even make it out of the Class 2A regional semifinals. One short year later, the Victors (17-6) are a win away from competing for their first girls’ basketball state title. Miami Christian knocked out Atlantic Christian 63-18 in the regional semis and held off Grandview Prep 52-51 in the regional finals to make it to Lakeland. The Victors play Bayshore Christian in the state semis.
This story was originally published February 23, 2019 at 12:00 PM.
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