Junior Orange Bowl: Ely girls are champs; boys’ game canceled

Ten months after winning the program’s third state title and first in 28 years, the Blanche Ely girls’ basketball team is hoping it won’t have to wait another 28 years to celebrate again.

Coach Henry McNabb and his Tigers are hoping they might just be able to get back to Lakeland in a few months and repeat as state champs.

The Ely girls showed off their power in style Wednesday when they took the floor for the championship game of the Junior Orange Bowl Championship Tournament and managed to outduel a determined Miami Christian team, overcoming a five-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull out a 63-55 victory at Westminster Christian.

Ely (5-0) led by as many as 14 in the first half but watched the Victors surge all the way back, tying the game at 30 just before halftime.

Even after Ely jumped back out to a 41-32 lead midway through the third, Miami Christian, led by senior guard Gabriela Bendeck, kept plugging away as the Victors reeled off a 19-5 run over the next six minutes to lead 51-46 with 6:02 left.

But when Ely’s Janessa Kelley buried a threepointer with 2:38 left, it snapped a 53-all tie. Thirty seconds later, Zaria Blake brought down an offensive rebound and and was fouled on a putback. She made the free throw to make it 59-53 and the Tigers were in good shape.

TOUGH TOURNAMENT

A difficult three days for Junior Orange Bowl officials, who had to deal with postponements and cancellations because of the COVID-19 crisis, reached a crescendo early Wednesday evening when it was announced that the boys’ championship game would not be played.

When news broke Wednesday that a Gulliver player had tested positive for COVID-19 just 30 minutes before the team’s scheduled fifthplace game against Belen, it had a ripple effect.

The fifth-place game was canceled and when South Miami administrators learned of the news, a decision was made not to allow their basketball team to play

Mater Academy in the championship game.

South Miami played Gulliver in a quarterfinal Monday and school administrators wanted to take no chances that any of their players had been exposed. Mater Academy administrators agreed with the decision and the 2020 boys’ basketball champion for the tournament will go down as officially “vacated.”

BOYS’ CONSOLATION RESULTS

3rd Place — Colum

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bus 74, ChaminadeMadonna 68: Columbus led by as many as 18 midway through the third quarter before the Lions put on a furious rally, cutting the Explorers’ lead to three down the stretch.

But Columbus, thanks to senior Reggie Luis (27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks) hung on for the win. Hubertas Pivorius also enjoyed a big night, pouring in 19 points. Brandon Gilgeours led the way for Chaminade with 19 points.

5th Place — Belen Jesuit d. Gulliver Prep by forfeit.

7th Place – Palmetto

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74, North Miami 67:

Trailing by three at halftime, Palmetto used a 30-16 third quarter to take an 11-point lead to the fourth and cruised to the win over the Pioneers.

It was a four-man effort for the Panthers (7-2) as Nick Pineyro, Jacoby Brown, David Pazo Jr. and Adam Cohen scored 20, 16, 16 and 15 points, respectively. Rick Daniels led the way for North Miami (3-4) with 15 points.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Krop (5-2) 52, Nova

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41: Krop, led by Lindsey Weingard, won the thirdplace game at the Palm Beach Classic. Weingard had 18 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals. Also key were Lauryn Hornstein 12 points; Emmy Mills 10 points, 13 reb; Mae Lisa Atis 8 pts; Neyida Michel 4 pts. Nova was led by Madisyn McLoud 13 pts and Sarei McGill 12 pts.

North Miami 52,

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Mata 41: Carla Jean 26 pts, 10 reb; Jenny Hilaire 8 pt, 5 reb; Kouraje Johnson 6 pts, 8 stl.

North Miami 59,

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Northeast 48: Cyerah Parham 15 pts, 3 reb; Carla Jean 10 pts, 5 reb, 5 stl, 5 assist, 5 blck; Kouraje Johnson 11 pts, 7 reb, 6 stl; Myiesha Herard 5 reb, 4 stls.