Florida brings home Two Championship Trophies from SC
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Florida brings home Two Championship Trophies from South Carolina By Michael Wholey 1/4/21 7:00 PM EST The United Bank Holiday Invitational in Myrtle Beach has established themselves as one of the most competitive High School events annually. The event welcomed…
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Continue ReadingFlorida brings home Two Championship Trophies from South Carolina
By Michael Wholey 1/4/21 7:00 PM EST
The United Bank Holiday Invitational in Myrtle Beach has established themselves as one of the most competitive High School events annually. The event welcomed a number of teams from Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, as well as two teams from Florida. Broken into two 8 team brackets, the top bracket featured several teams ranked nationally. In the end, both champions that were crowed with Lake Highland Prep taking home the top bracket and Calvary Christian taking home the championship in the Sylvia Hatchell Division Championship.
2020 United Bank Holiday Invitational Championship Game
Lake Highland Prep vs New Hope Academy (MD)
Full Video Recap of the Championship Game by @CarolinaGHoops
Lake Highland Prep
The Championship game between Lake Highland Prep and New Hope Academy out of Maryland was advertised as potentially the marquee game should both teams make it the championship. Both being ranked in the top 15 nationally and both being ranked as the #1 team in their respective states, the matchup was highly anticipated.
LHP was impressive in the first two days of the event, defeating Cannon out of North Carolina 59-42 and then knocking off Camden from South Carolina 73-60. In the 2nd round matchup vs Camden (SC), the Highlanders had four players with double figures led by 2024 Bri Rivera who finished with 22 points. Coming off the bench, the Freshman sharpshooter went 6/8 from 3. In the win, Alabama signee Kayla Blackshear Kayla Blackshear 6'1" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2021 State #61 Nation FL finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds, 2022 UCF verbal commit Stefanie Ingram Stefanie Ingram 5'7" | CG Lake Highland | 2022 State FL chipped in with 10 points and 6 assists with 2022 forward Nyla Harris Nyla Harris 6'2" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2022 State #34 Nation FL had a double-double finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. In the loss, Camden’s Freshman Joyce Edwards was outstanding finishing with an impressive 27 points and 18 rebounds after collecting 18 points and 19 rebounds in the previous game.
The championship match up with New Hope Academy (MD) was set up after New Hope beat St. Francis (GA) 48-47 in the semi-finals. In the end, Lake Highland Prep was victorious in the low scoring battle defeating New Hope 36-33 claiming their second consecutive championship in Myrtle Beach. 2022 guard Stefanie Ingram Stefanie Ingram 5'7" | CG Lake Highland | 2022 State FL knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. The recent University of Central Florida verbal commit was named the Most Valuable Player averaging 9.7 points, 4 assists, and 3.3 Steals for the event. 2022 Nyla Harris Nyla Harris 6'2" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2022 State #34 Nation FL averaged 11.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per game and 2021 Kayla Blackshear Kayla Blackshear 6'1" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2021 State #61 Nation FL averaged 10.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2 steals per game both being named to the All Tournament team.
Calvary Christian Academy
Calvary Christian Academy out of Fort Lauderdale, FL also came home with the championship winning 3 games in 3 days in the Sylvia Hatchell Division defeating two teams out of South Carolina (Socastee and Legacy Early College) as well as Brunswick out of Georgia in the championship game.
CCA’s first round matchup was their most dominating, defeating Socastee 71-37 behind a 41-16 2nd half. Their 2nd and 3rd round matchups finished with identical scores (57-52) to take home the wins. In the semi-final matchup vs Legacy Early College (SC), the first two quarters were back and forth but CCA pulled away 18-11 in the 3rd quarter to pull away and ultimately advanced to the championship game winning by 5.
In the championship game vs Brunswick (GA), CCA dominated early jumping out to a 21-8 lead after the 1st quarter and holding a 31-20 lead at half. Ultimately, they held on for dear life as Brunswick did everything they could to try and come back, outscoring Calvary 22-10 in the fourth quarter but in the end it was not enough and CCA won by 5, taking home the championship trophy back to Florida by a score 57-52.
Calvary uses a balanced offensive attack and a balance of veteran players with young Freshman and 8th graders. 2022 5’5 guard Elizabeth Schnell Elizabeth Schnell 5'7" | CG Calvary Christian Academy | 2022 State FL is the Eagles leading scorer averaging 15.3 points per game while her fellow Junior Samiyah Briggs is also averaging double digits scoring 11.7 points per game. Balancing out the scoring, 5’9 point guard Markeli Jones-Tynes is just an 8th grader and is the team’s 3rd leading scorer at 8.3 points per game while 5’10 Freshman combo guard Jocelyn Gagnon is averaging 7.1 points per game.
We will look to continue to cover news all across the state. Our audience supplies us with some of our best information. Keep us updated on Florida news be emailing me at WholeyPrepHoops@gmail.com or DM’ing me through Twitter or Instagram at @WholeyPrepHoops.