Miami Country Day girls’ basketball returns to state
The way the past year unfolded didn’t sit well with the Miami Country Day girls’ basketball team.
It started with Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy sending the Spartans home in last year’s regional final on their way to winning a state championship.
Just before districts three weeks ago, Miami Country Day lost its best player, Kayla Nelms, to a hand injury.
A few days later, the Spartans watched Westminster celebrate a district championship at their expense.
On Friday night, Miami Country Day turned things back in its favor.
The Spartans took back the crown in Region 4-3A, dominating Westminster Academy in a 55-39 victory at their home gym.
“We proved all the haters wrong and this feels great,” senior Kristina Godfrey said.
Next, Miami Country Day (23-7) will go for the prize it has won more times than any other Miami-Dade County team as it travels to Lakeland to chase its eighth state championship after winning seven in an eight-year span prior to last season.
The Spartans will host Jacksonville Providence in a Class 3A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
“No coaches work their kids harder than we do and we knew that it would take a tremendous effort to get this done,” Miami Country Day coach Ochiel Swaby said. “Tonight was the first time in a while that I saw them play as hard as they work in practice.”
Without Nelms — the Spartans’ leading scorer (17.9 points per game) and rebounder (9.8 per game), Country Day had to lean on its younger players.
Eighth-grader Jalynn Belton emerged as a dominant force and led the Spartans with 19 points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists. Belton’s sharp shooting from outside, her defense and ability to attack the rim allowed the Spartans to take control early and outscore the Lions (22-8) in the second quarter,
15-4. Country Day made four of its five 3-pointers during that quarter including two clutch makes by Jada Johnson for her only points of the game.
Kaliyah Morales also had 10 points and six rebounds.
Westminster Academy tried multiple times to stem the tide behind Markeli Jones-Tynes (14 points) and Lena Girardi (13 points). But the comeback run never came as Country Day never let up on the defensive end.
Region 4-6A final — St. Thomas 73, Blanche Ely 65: St. Thomas Aquinas never panicked Friday, not even when the Raiders trailed by 18 points in the second quarter of their now-annual postseason showdown with Blanche Ely in Pompano Beach.
AFor two straight years, St. Thomas Aquinas had ended the Tigers’ season in the region playoffs and the recent history of this rivalry suggested something crazy was going to happen.
Across the next 20 or so minutes, it did. Blanche Ely’s lead was down to six points by halftime and gone within the first few minutes of the second quarter. The Raiders stormed all the way back and ran away from the Tigers.
“Obviously, an incredible, great effort of playing 32-minute basketball for us,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Oliver Berens said.
The Raiders and Tigers have combined to win three straight 6A championships, and they’ve played at some point in the region playoffs now for four straight years. After Blanche Ely won the state title in 2020, St. Thomas Aquinas won the last two and is now two wins away from making it three in a row.
The Raiders will travel to Lakeland next week and face Lakeland Lake Gibson in the 6A semifinals Thursday at 6 at the RP Funding Center.
St. Thomas Aquinas has now won 6 of 7 against the Tigers, starting with a win in the Region 4-6A semifinals in 2021 after Blanche Ely won the first three meetings with the Raiders that season.
The frequency of these meetings means there are usually no secrets when these two Broward County powers play. This time, Berens said, was different,