Master’s girls shock 6-time state champ
The Master’s Academy girls basketball team rallied from a 13-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to defeat six-time defending state champion Miami Country Day 76-70 in overtime Wednesday night in a Class 3A state semifinal game.
The Eagles (26-5) will play for the state championship Saturday at 10 a.m. at RP Funding Center in Lakeland against either Tampa Carrollwood Day (25-2) or Bradenton Saint Stephen’s Episcopal (26-4). Those teams played a late semifinal Wednesday.
Sydney Shaw gave Country Day (21-10) a 66-53 lead on a basket with 1 minute, 57 seconds to play. But Master’s answered by ending regulation on a 15-2 run to knot the score at 68-68. Freshman Hannah Kohn turned an offensive reboundinto the game-tying basket with 11 seconds to spare.
Senior center Aaliyah Irizarry scored off a turnover and Kohn made two free throws early in the extra period before the Eagles went on to outscore Country
Day 8-2 in overtime.
Irizarry led all players with 23 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Kohn finished with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Kiara Harris added 15 points and five assists in the win.
The teams combined for 25 made 3-point shots. The Spartans made 14 of 36 shots from beyond the arc. Master’s hit 11 of 29.
Top-ranked Lake Highland Prep (27-2), which is ranked No. 1 in Florida for all classifications, plays a 4A semifinal Thursday at 10 a.m. against Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons (25-3).
Also Thursday, Jones (20-9) faces Pensacola Pine Forest (20-4) at 4 p.m. in Class 5A, and Wekiva (23-7) takes on Braden River (17-9) at 6 in 6A.
Timber Creek (23-7) plays a 7A semifinal on Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Miami High (25-5).
Mooney, Reed double up: Former All-Area basketball players John Mooney of Lake Brantley and Paul Reed of Wekiva are doubledouble machines at the next level.
Mooney, a 6-foot-9 senior forward for Notre Dame (17-10), was leading NCAA Division 1 with 22 doubledoubles for points and rebounds through 26 games played. He is averaging 16.2 points and 12.7 boards and was leading the Fighting Irish in both categories going into a Wednesday night game at Boston College.
Mooney, the 2015-16 Orlando Sentinel area high school Player of the Year, led the ACC in rebounding as a junior.
Reed, a 6-9 junior forward for DePaul (14-14), ranks fifth in the nation with 16 double-doubles in 28 games. He is averaging 14.9 points and and a teamhigh 10.6 rebounds per game.
Reed, who was the 2016-17 area Player of the Year, led the Big East in rebounding as a sophomore and was named Most Improved Player in the conference.