Oxbridge Academy crushes American Heritage-Delray

The early minutes of Tuesday’s Class 5A girls basketball regional semifinal between Oxbridge Academy and American Heritage-Delray featured a tight game between closely matched teams.

The final 25 minutes did not.

The Thunder Wolves (26-2) routed the Stallions (20-9) 71-28, putting a running clock on Heritage early in the third quarter in Delray Beach.

“American Heritage came out really strong, and they came out to play,” Oxbridge coach Tracy Wolfe said. “We weren’t really that worried about it because I knew we had a lot more maturity and that the game was going to come to us. They came out firing, they played really, really well those first few minutes, and we just had to settle in.”

The teams traded early baskets and were tied 12-12 about midway through the first quarter. Then the Thunder Wolves caught fire on both offense and defense, draining shots and forcing turnovers. The first quarter ended with Oxbridge on a 16-0 run.

“I think we just needed to calm down,” said Kaylon Smith, who led the Thunder Wolves with 19 points.

Oxbridge carried that momentum for the rest of the game and outscored Heritage 36-9 in the second and third quarters.

In addition to leading her team in points, Smith played a big role in guarding Stallions freshman phenom Jordana Codio, who entered the game averaging more than 24 points per game but scored 10 on Tuesday.

We really put the pressure on her of, ‘Jordana’s getting a lot of attention right now. It’s your turn to go out there and shine,’” Wolfe said. “We were going to leverage her with Kaylon, and we felt that we had an advantage purely because of Kaylon’s size, really, that we knew they couldn’t touch her.”

Junior Nashani Gilbert-Taylor was second for Oxbridge with 15 points, including nine in the first quarter, helping the Thunder Wolves get the momentum.

“Nashani’s really the one that gets our team going,” Wolfe said. “She does everything. She does all the little things, she gets the steals, she gets the turnovers. I felt like she’s the one that really slowed their momentum after that first couple minutes.”

The victory on Tuesday puts the Thunder Wolves, who won the Class 5A state title last year, one win away from returning to Lakeland for the third straight year. They will play Tampa Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate on Friday in the regional final.

“It’s always surreal,” Smith said. “It’s always going to be surreal. But we work for it, and we’re excited. … Our goal is to get back to Lakeland, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”