Western, Miami Christian girls make semis

With COVID-19 restrictions firmly in place and even having had to overcome the last-minute drop-outs of three different teams, the 2020 Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Tournament managed to get under way Monday at Westminster Christian School.

For the girls, St. Thomas Aquinas and defending 9A state champion Miami High were forced to withdraw late because of COVID-19 contact tracing issues while on the boys’ side, the host team, Westminster Christian was forced to do the same.

Junior OB officials were able to fill the vacated slots with South Broward and Miami Central for the girls and Chaminade-Madonna for the boys.

The Western and Miami Christian girls’ teams jumped into the winners bracket and into the semifinals Monday when they defeated late entries South Broward and Central, respectively.

Gabriela Bendeck, Daimelys Morera and Hailey Clements scored 17, 12 and 11 points, respectively, to lead Miami Christian (6-3) to an easy 69-47 victory against Central. Tamara Elliott (18) and Jordan Pravato (14) led the way for Western as the Wildcats (4-2) built a 28-14 halftime lead over South Broward and held on for a 50-45 win.

On the boys’ side, Koree Cotton (19) and Christian Pujals (15) combined for 34 points as South Miami blew out to a 35-19 halftime lead on Gulliver Prep, cruising to a 65-42 victory.

The Cobras (4-4) will face Chaminade-Madonna in a Tuesday semifinal at 7:30 p.m. after the previously winless Lions upset previously undefeated North Miami 64-47. Roger Smith led the way for Chaminade with 17 points followed by Brandon Gilgeours and Jaylon Edward with 15 and 10, respectively.

Action will continue Tuesday with consolation bracket games early, followed by the two girls’ semifinals at 4 p.m. (Western vs. Miami Christian) and 5:45 and the two boys’ semis at 7:30 (South Miami/Chaminade) and 9:15 p.m.