By Dave Brousseau
FORT LAUDERDALE – For much of the past 20 years the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team had struggled to find a solution how to defeat Nova.
Friday night in a Class 6A regional final the Raiders rallied from an 11-point third quarter deficit to earn a 60-56 victory and a berth to the FHSAA state semifinals on March 12 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Aquinas will face George Steinbrenner at 11 a.m. with a state championship game at stake.
Aquinas (20-8) will attempt to win a fifth state championship in six seasons. They won four consecutive titles from 2021-24.
Sophomore guard London Thomas scored a game high 27 points to rally her team into position for a win.
Nova senior Jaelynn Housey dropped a pair of free-throws with 34.3 seconds remaining in regulation that tied the score 56-56.
Senior guard Ronneisha Thomas, who had missed six weeks due to a broken left hand, sank a clutch 3-pointer with 13.1 seconds left for a 59-56 lead. Laila Barnett sealed the win on a free throw with 3.6 seconds left.
“Got to be poised,” said Thomas on her clutch 3-pointer. “I worked on that shot before the game every day in practice. When the moment came, I just had to knock it down.”
The Raiders defense played a big part in the comeback after trailing 45-34 in the third quarter. They held Nova (23-5) scoreless during a six-minute stretch, all the while Thomas scored 18 second half points.
“This was a big-team effort for the win,” said Thomas. “We had to stick together and keep pushing. We had worked too hard to be best team in the state. We had to get back at Nova to get to Jacksonville.”
The Raiders cut their double digit third quarter deficit to within 45-40 entering the decisive fourth quarter
Dating back to 2006, Nova leads the all-time series 23-3. Aquinas had won three consecutive games against the Titans until a four-point loss in the BCAA Big 8 final on Jan. 31.
“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” said Nova coach Jadon Hively. “The girls gave a great effort but just didn’t execute. We just didn’t hit some shots that we needed to get.”
Housey had 14 points for the Titans, while Ke’Mora Evens led the team with 15 points. Ya’Niyah Young added 13 points.
Dave Brousseau is a veteran journalist who worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a longtime BCAA Correspondent. Need to reach out to him? Contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.