St. Thomas easily stampedes past Seminole Ridge, into state semis

FORT LAUDERDALE — With a berth to the state semifinals on the line, the St. Thomas girls basketball team wanted to make sure it played its best.

And did it ever.

Karina Gordon scored 19 of her 22 points in the first half as the Raiders blew past Seminole Ridge 79-25 in the Class 6A regional finals, keeping their dreams of back-to-back state titles alive.

“We played outstanding tonight from beginning to end,” St. Thomas coach Oliver Berens said. “We spoke about having an emotional game against Ely and then come in here and play Seminole Ridge. We had to focus on making sure we played a great game, not on the outcome.”

Alancia Ramsey finished with 12 points (10 in the first half ), while Jada Green chipped in 10.

The game was almost over as soon as it started as St. Thomas (25-4) raced to a 22-0 lead, sparked by Green’s two 3-pointers to open the game.

St. Thomas then blew the game open in the second quarter, taking a 46-8 lead with three minutes left, and eventually a 54-11 halftime lead.

Gordon had 12 points during a five-minute stretch in the second quarter, hitting two 3-pointers. She also ended up recording her 1,000th career point after hitting a 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

“I’m happy I got my 1,000th point, it meant a lot,” Gordon said. “Our mindset was to keep the same energy we had against Ely — that was an intense game — and we did that tonight.”

The Raiders pulled all the starters with about three minutes left in the third quarter, getting the reserves some action. Reina Green and Dakota Degenhardt each had four points in the final frame.

St. Thomas will now face Bloomingdale on Thursday in the state semifinals.

“We really want to go up to Lakeland and make sure we take care of business and defend that state championship. We’ve been working toward that goal and now its time to finish that,” Berens said.