For a team short on depth,
Lake Highland Prep (Orlando) sure had plenty in the tank Friday when it defeated
Woodward Academy (College Park, Ga.) 81-57 in the semifinals of the inaugural State Champions Invitational, an event featuring four of the top high school girls basketball teams in the country.
Lake Highland Prep, ranked No. 15 in the
MaxPreps Top 25, will need a lot more fuel to slow down No. 1
Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.), which pummeled Las Vegas power
Centennial 63-30 in the other semifinal. MaxPreps National Player of the Year finalist
Kiki Rice almost had a triple-double for Sidwell Friends with 17 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
The two winners meet for the championship Saturday at 10 a.m. EST on ESPNU.
Lake Highland Prep (26-4), down to seven players due to injuries and prior commitments, had five of them score in double figures, led by 20 points by
Eleecia Carter and 17 from
Lexi Blue. The Florida 4A state champion went on a 26-11 run in the fourth quarter to run away from the War Eagles (29-3), who got a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds by Georgia-bound
Sydney Bowles.
After an entertaining 14-14 first quarter, Lake Highland scored 16 points in the first three minutes of the second quarter to take control. Woodward Academy, the Georgia 5A state champion, played toe-to-toe until the fourth quarter when the Highlanders put the game away.
Eleecia Carter, Lake Highland Prep
File photo by Annette Wilkerson
added 12 points,
Bri Rivera 11 and Louisville-bound
Nyla Harris contributed 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for Lake Highland, which won its eight straight.
The Highlanders made 50 percent of their shots (30 of 60), including eight 3-pointers. Woodward Academy, which had an 18-game win streak snapped, made just 22 of 67 shots (32.8 percent).
Sara Lewis added 13 points for the War Eagles.
Sidwell Friends (29-0) raced to leads of 19-7 and 34-10 after the first two quarters to breeze past Nevada 5A champion Centennial. The Quakers' defensive pressure forced 32 turnovers.
Rice, coming off a MVP performance in the McDonald's All America Game, connected on 6 of 9 field goal attempts and all five shots from the free throw line.
The Quakers, the DCSAA Class AA champion, also had big games from
Leah Harmon (14 points, nine rebounds) and
Jadyn Donovan (12 points).
Kaniya Boyd led Centennial with eight points.
The brainchild of Paragon Market Group pits champions from National
Federation of State High School Associations-sanctioned states. The hope
is to expand the tournament to eventually create a true national
championship
States that currently allow teams to participate in
the SCI include Arizona (AIA), Florida (FHSAA), Georgia (GHSA), Hawaii
(HHSAA), Nevada (NIAA), Utah (UHSAA), Washington (WIAA) and Washington
D.C. (DCSAA).
