Miami High girls picking up momentum, cruise to fourth consecutive GMAC championship
The Miami High girls’ basketball team’s philosophy, like many successful programs, is to trade a glamorous win-loss record for the experience necessary to win when it matters most.
It’s why the Stingarees are a regular at the state final four in Lakeland.
And even now in a season where they did not enter as the top favorite to get back there, their ultimate destination may be the same.
Miami High is playing its best basketball on the cusp of the postseason and showed it again on Saturday night by handling one of the better teams in Miami-Dade County during a 66-43 win over Miami Southridge.
The Stingarees (15-7) secured their fourth consecutive GMAC tournament title on their home floor with relative ease, opening up a 27-4 lead early in the second quarter and leading by 18 or more the rest of the way.
“I see us progressing. We’re definitely getting better,” longtime Miami High coach Sam Baumgarten said. “The first time we played Southridge in the preseason, we had 30 turnovers. Now we’re getting to the point where we’re keeping our turnovers under 10 and that’s making us more dangerous because we’re getting more possessions.”
Miami High was still one of the favorites in Class 7A coming into the 2024-25 season.
But the Stingarees’ run of six consecutive seasons reaching Lakeland was interrupted last season when they lost to Boca Raton in the regional semifinals.
Doral Academy, meanwhile, made its first trip to state and entered this season as the prohibitive favorite to do so again. But things appear to have evened up or even shifted in recent weeks after Miami High scored a huge 55-23 over Doral on its home court.
The Stingarees’ victory was one of six in a row, including a win over Somerset Prep and wins over Northwestern and Killian in the earlier rounds of this week’s tournament. Miami High next plays two challenging final regular season games at Plantation American Heritage on Tuesday and Kissimmee Central Pointe Christian at home on Friday.
The Stingarees are chasing their first state title since 2020 and fifth overall.
Entering the week, Doral Academy remained the highest-ranked Dade team in Class 7A and second overall in the state in that classification behind only Winter Haven, according to the FHSAA’s power rankings. Miami High was the second-highest in Dade, sixth overall in 7A and 33rd regardless of class.
Doral and Miami High could face each other again in the District 15-7A playoffs in two weeks as well as the regional playoffs two weeks after that.
Seniors Sydney Wilson and Jamir Cook led Miami High as each scored 18 points. Senior 6-1 center Nicole Penalver finished with 10 points while sophomore Zoe Rowe had 11 points and senior Alexie Nicolas had seven.
Southridge (10-10) was led by siblings Dianka and Naya Hardisson. Dianka finished with a team-high 16 points while Naya had 14. Emily Jean-Glaude added 11 points.
“The girls have learned to play with each other a little more and we have good height and love to use it,” Baumgarten said. “We have some veteran leadership with Sydney being a 4-year starter and Alexie. She’s everywhere on the floor and dangerous when she’s on it can change the dynamic for us.
“Now we can play big or small and use a mix of both.”
