Faith Christian captures state championship

LAKELAND — Faith Christian knocked off three of the top-ranked girls basketball teams in its classification en route to its first Florida High School Athletic Association state championship.

The Lions (16-11) led Hialeah Horeb Christian (19-5) wire to wire during a 53-37 win in Friday’s Class 2A final at RP Funding Center.

Senior Leah Rivera drained a 3 to open the second half that gave Faith a 26-16 lead. Horeb, which shot 20% from the field, got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“Our regular-season record wasn’t great, but we challenged ourselves and played three teams this season that are here in Lakeland,” Faith Christian coach Andy Sarasty said.

Horeb entered the game at No. 4 in the FHSAA 2A power rankings. Faith Christian, ranked No. 6, defeated No. 1 Central Florida Christian 61-52 for the Region 2 title and No. 2 Orange Park St. Johns Country Day 77-65 in the semifinal round.

“There were a lot of ups and downs in our season, but we got it,” said Holland Harris, who finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The sophomore was among a new roster of players at the school after others from last year’s state runner-up team enrolled elsewhere following the first of two coaching changes.

The group found its footing at the right time.

“It was a challenge in the beginning for us to connect and click as a team, but we finally did it later in the season, which helped us,” sophomore Kylee Kitts said.

Kitts had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Rivera was 4 of 5 from behind the arc for 12 points. Aliyah Perry and Leah Barnes each had eight.

Harris and Kitts said afterward it’s “probably too early to tell” if they will be back at Faith next season.

Sarasty, the boys basketball coach at Faith, stepped in to lead both teams this winter when the school made its second coaching change on the eve of the regular season.

He won a girls basketball state title as head coach at Lake Howell in 2009.

“We had to make a little bit of adjustments with some of the travel we expected for the girls, but we were able to do that to make it work,” Sarasty said. “They had to learn my style, and it wasn’t always pretty, but they kept coming back.”