Lake Highland returns to finals for 6th straight year
Kissimmee Gateway stumbles vs. Daytona Beach Mainland in semifinal
Lake Highland Prep is back in a Florida High School Athletic Association girls basketball state championship game for the sixth consecutive season.
The 3-time defending champion Highlanders (24-6) made easy work of Sarasota Booker (22-8) on Thursday morning in Lakeland during a resounding 65-35 win in a Class 4A semifinal.
Lake Highland, which opened with an 11-0 lead, used an 18-0 run in the second quarter to build a 36-13 advantage that was never contested. It was a rematch of last year’s 73-51 semifinal win for the Highlanders.
Junior Jada Eads led all players with 15 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds while senior Eleecia Carter tallied 14 points and 3 steals. Junior Bri Rivera made 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 12 points.
Junior Lexi Blue and freshman Saleigh Simpson combined for 17 rebounds. Simpson also had 4 blocks.
Eads, a career 1,000-point scorer, is playing in a state final for the third straight year after leading Wekiva to Class 6A runner-up finishes as a freshman and sophomore.
The Highlanders will play Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. championship game at the RP Funding Center against Jacksonville Bishop Kenny (30-1), which won 69-47 against Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons (22-6).
Admission is $10 in advance and $13 on day of game. Parking is $10. All state finals are broadcast live online by Spectrum Cable.
Lake Highland coach Al Honor, a 1984 West Orange graduate, owns a 288-59 record in 12 seasons with the program.
The Highlanders, district champs 10 years running, have won five state titles (2015, ’16, ’20, ’21, ’22) and finished runners-up twice (’18, ’19) over the past eight years.
Lake Highland claimed its first state championship in 1998 and was runner-up in 2000 with David Adair as head coach.
Bucs thump Gateway
Anovia Sheals had a game-high 25 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks to lead Daytona Beach Mainland to a 56-23 win over Kissimmee Gateway in a Class 5A semifinal. Mainland will face Plantation American Heritage (23-7) in Saturday’s state championship game.
The Buccaneers (20-8) dominated all phases of the game, limiting Gateway (24-7) to just 6 field goals and 20% shooting while Sheals and her teammates had their way on the offensive end. Mainland made 22 of 56 shots (42.3%) — many coming off second-chance points on 20 offensive rebounds.
“When we make shots we’re a pretty good team and tonight we made shots,” Mainland coach
Brandon Stewart said. “Defensively, we wanted to stop number 20 [Malayna Stevenson]. She is a great player who sort of runs her offense from the backcourt and then drives the lane.”
Sheals limited Stevenson to 8 points while Vanessa Diaz — Gateway’s secondary option — scored just 6. The two came into the game averaging 19 and 16 points per game.
The Buccaneers led from start to finish. Sheals dominated, getting a double-double by halftime as Mainland took a 23-12 lead into the locker room.
“They really didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect, and I think we were prepared for the game,” Gateway coach Justin Marino said. “The problem is the talent gap. They were just bigger, faster and stronger than we were and we simply had no answers for it.”
Still it was a season of firsts for the Panthers as they captured a regional title and made their first Final Four appearance.