Miami High, Norland girls fall in OB tournament

The Miami High and Norland girls’ basketball teams entered Saturday’s semifinals of the Junior Orange Bowl basketball tournament with designs on squaring off in Monday night’s championship game.

The Stingarees and Vikings will indeed meet up. But it will be in the thirdplace consolation game at 3:30 p.m. instead.

They both dropped their respective semifinals late Saturday afternoon at Palmetto High School. Norland dropped a 54-50 decision to Vance (North Carolina) High School and Miami High followed up with a 69-59 loss to Palm Beach

Lakes.

Perhaps worn down from a long week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where they won two of three games in the Cres Com Bank Holiday Invitational, the Stingarees (10-3) were sluggish and sloppy right out of the gate as they trailed 16-9 after the first quarter and then got overwhelmed in the second as the Rams outscored them 25-11 to take a 41-20 lead at halftime.

“Palm Beach Lakes is a very good team and when you walk out on to the court you have to bring a lot of energy, and we clearly didn’t do that in the first half,” Miami High coach Sam Baumgarten said.

“We a had a few calls that didn’t go our way, and Colleen [Bucknor] picked up a couple of fouls early that hindered us as well. But the bottom line was we simply didn’t play well enough to win.”

Things didn’t get any better in the third for MHS as Lakes (8-4) built the lead to 57-34 entering the fourth. That’s when, led by Bucknor, who finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, Miami High woke up.

Thanks to relentless full-court pressure, the Stings went on a 20-4 run to cut the Rams’ lead to seven at 61-54 with 2:19 left on a Jeanine Scott three-pointer.

But they never got any closer than seven as they were forced to put Lakes at the foul line and the Rams made enough free throws down the stretch to close it out.

OTHER GIRLS’ RESULTS

Vance (N.C.) 54, Norland 50: Norland

A trailed this semifinal contest 44-33 entering the fourth quarter but rallied to cut the deficit to two, 52-50 on a Jada Donaldson three-point shot with a minute left. But a driving layup by Vance’s Leah Barringer with 37 seconds left followed by a traveling call on the Vikings ended the issue. Jaiyah Harris-Smith, who had back-to-back steals and ensuing layups to cut Norland’s deficit to 50-47 with 1:23 left, led the way for the Vikings (8-4) with 15 points and six steals. Norland will take on Miami High in the third-place consolation game on Monday at 3:30 p.m.

Homestead Keys Gate Charter 51,

A Tampa Chamberlain 49: It was a three-girl show on Saturday morning for the Lady Knights as Amari Hunter, Riana Moore and Amber Mateo combined for all of the team’s points. Hunter led the way with 23 points along with four rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Moore and Mateo scored 15 and 10, respectively. Keys Gate (12-2) which is ranked No. 5 in the state (Max Preps) regardless of classification, will take on Max Preps No. 17 Davie Nova in a fifth-place game at noon Monday.

Nova 53, Cornerstone Christian

A (Ohio) 47: Sarei McGill led the way for the Titans (10-2) as she racked up 19 points while pulling down six boards. Joey Delancy and Jahnay Mars followed right behind with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

BOYS’ RESULTS

North Miami 74, Palmetto 59: The

A Pioneers pulled away from a 32-27 halftime lead to cruise past Palmetto in a consolation bracket game. Vee’lesk Avin led the way for the Pioneers (9-2) with 25 points, including four three-pointers, and Jeremiah Bonhometre contributed with 17 points and eight rebounds. Ronaldo Vescine and Wilbins Frederick also pitched in with 13 and 10 points, respectively as North Miami led by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter. Joes Aloma led all scorers for Palmetto (7-6) with 14 points including four three pointers while Jaiyan Marley and Jordan Lopez scored 10 points each.

MONDAY’S SCHEDULE

GIRLS: 9 a.m.: (7th place) Cornerstone Christian (Ohio) vs. Tampa Chamberlain; Noon: (5th place) Nova vs. Keys Gate Charter; 3:30 pm.: (3rd place) Norland vs. Miami High; 6:30 p.m.: (Championship) Vance (N.C.) vs. Palm Beach Lakes

BOYS: 10:30 a.m.: (7th place) Palmetto vs. Centerville (OH); 1:30 p.m.: (5th place) North Miami vs. Bullitt East (Ky.); 5 p.m.: (3rd place game); 8 p.m.: (Championship game)

MORE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Florida Prospect Holiday Tournament in Or

lando

North Miami 53, Orlando Cypress

A

Creek 45: Carla Jean 23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals 2 blocks; Desiree Sinclair 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks. Kendra Jusma 10 points, Jenny Hilaire 5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks

SIGNING

He may still a ways off from graduating from high school but that didn’t keep Riviera Prep freshman Eric Fernandez, Class of 2023, from making up his mind early on where he wants to take his baseball talents.

Earlier this week Fernandez, a Miami Herald First Team All-County player last season as an eighthgrader, verbally committed to play for the University of Miami.

A 6-1 left-handed hitting shortstop, Fernandez hit .490 as Riviera Prep launched its inaugural baseball season.