FHSAA Playoffs: Predicting 4A

FHSAA Playoffs: Predicting 4A By Michael Wholey 2/6/22 11:00 AM EST The district tournament starts this week in Florida and over the next 3 weeks, the top teams in Florida will compete for a coveted state championship concluding February 23-26 in Lakeland at the RP Funding Center. Let’s look at the top teams in 4A and who we predict to win it all!   FLORIDA PLAYOFF INFO District Tournament: February 1-4, 2022 (at host school) Regional Tournament: February 10, 12, 15, and 18th (at host school) State Championships: February 23-26 (at RP Funding Center)   PREDICTING 4A Maxpreps lists the following as the top 7 schools in 4A. <ol> <li>Lake Highland Prep</li> <li>Bishop Kenny</li> <li>Palm Bay</li> <li>Calvary Christian</li> <li>Rutherford</li> <li>SLAM (Miami)</li> <li>Mater Lakes Academy</li> </ol> Make your own prediction for who you think will be the 2022 FHSAA 4A State Champion in Girls Basketball. https://poll.fm/11033408 *Voting closes 2/15   <img class=" wp-image-259531 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/Nyla-Harris-LHP-e1614714615454-260x300.jpg" alt="" width="188" height="217" />Tough for me to select anyone other than Lake Highland Prep. They finished 2020 and 2021 as the 4A State Champions, competed in Geico Nationals last year and returned essentially their entire roster. They finished the regular season 18-4 with in-state losses to the state’s number one and number two teams DME Academy and Montverde Academy (who are both not eligible to compete in the FHSAA playoffs) and to out of state national powerhouse St. John-Vianney out of New Jersey. Their go to player is Louisville signee 6’2 Forward [player_tooltip player_id="91555" first="Nyla" last="Harris"] who leads the team in scoring and rebounding averaging a double-double with 18.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Around Harris is a talented cast of perimeter players with the state’s top 3-point shooter [player_tooltip player_id="217666" first="Briana" last="Rivera"], fellow sharpshooter [player_tooltip player_id="91649" first="Eleecia" last="Carter"], Sophomore sensation [player_tooltip player_id="217664" first="Lexi" last="Blue"], and Prep Girls Hoop Florida class of 2025 number three ranked player Ariana Woodard. <img class=" wp-image-353045 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/11/Emma-Risch-Palm-Bay-e1637172479601-210x300.jpg" alt="" width="127" height="181" />Palm Bay has the talent to be one of the state’s top teams and to knock off Lake Highland Prep. 6’2 Point Guard [player_tooltip player_id="91638" first="Emma" last="Risch"] is headed to Notre Dame and is our number one ranked player in the class of 2025. She has won multiple state championships with Florida Prep and just surpassed the 2,000 point mark. She has [player_tooltip player_id="219923" first="Kiara" last="Williams"], [player_tooltip player_id="219932" first="Jazmine" last="Major"], [player_tooltip player_id="166170" first="Alonya" last="Waldon"] around her. Those four will have to come up big to slay the dragon and take down Lake Highland Prep. All four are underclassmen, so although Lake Highland Prep might be too tall of a task this season, Palm Bay will likely be the team to be next season in 2022-23 if the gang stays together and everyone stays healthy! <img class=" wp-image-279745" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/04/IMG_1370-e1623181388424-261x300.jpg" alt="" width="203" height="233" />     Bishop Kenny finished the season 20-4 and are led by University of North Florida signee [player_tooltip player_id="91575" first="Maddie" last="Millar"]. The 5’9 Senior guard averaged 17.3 points per game and is one of the state’s leading 3-point shooters. But unless University of Freshman Jasmyne Roberts finds some unused eligibility and can suit up one more time for Bishop Kenny, I don’t think the Crusaders have enough fire power to take down Palm Bay or Lake Highland Prep.     <img class="wp-image-204258 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/09/9-Samiyah-Briggs-2-e1643673132976-238x300.jpg" alt="" width="147" height="185" />Who else? Calvary Christian has had several impressive wins this season including knocking off King’s Academy, Miami Country Day, and SLAM but they do not have much size and are not very deep. I think they will make a run towards Lakeland and could potentially be one of the four representatives in 4A to make it to Lakeland but I don’t think the combination of [player_tooltip player_id="91595" first="Samiyah"last="Briggs"], [player_tooltip player_id="243882" first="Jocelyn" last="Gagnon"], [player_tooltip player_id="220010" first="Elizabeth" last="Schnell"], and [player_tooltip player_id="221649" first="Markeli" last="Jones-Tynes"] can match up against some of the heavy hitters in 4A! Rutherford has [player_tooltip player_id="223789" first="Shakirah" last="Edwards"], Nautica Bouie, Braniya Baker, and Ava Butler but similar to Calvary Christian, I don’t think those four have enough fire power. With all four of them being Freshman and Sophomores, this season may not be theirs, but they will be one of the teams to beat in the next 2-3 years.   <img class="wp-image-306970 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/07/IMG_8684-e1626093216879-215x300.jpeg" alt="" width="187" height="260" />If Calvary makes it to Lakeland, they will likely have to go through SLAM! (Miami) and Mater Lakes Academy. Calvary handled SLAM easily in early January, taking down SLAM! 68-35. A rematch is likely here in the next 2 weeks and will be fun to see how both teams make adjustments. While both Palm Bay and Rutherford return quite a bit next season, SLAM is the youngest team of them all with three of their top four scorers being Freshman. [player_tooltip player_id="243897" first="Jim’Myah" last="Branton"], [player_tooltip player_id="314842" first="Samantha" last="Bautista"], and [player_tooltip player_id="331712" first="Adaya" last="Montalvo"] are an explosive and fun to watch trio on the perimeter with Senior [player_tooltip player_id="331736" first="Karla" last="Quintero"] holding down the middle. It may be too early for SLAM but the future is bright! The youth movement continues over at Mater Lakes Academy as well where the Bears are led by Sophomore duo [player_tooltip player_id="349421" first="Kalia" last="Harrington"] and [player_tooltip player_id="219924" first="Khadee" last="Hession"]. The 5’10 perimeter players account for half of their teams’ points and will have to knock off both SLAM and Calvary Christian to make it to Lakeland and have a shot at the 4A State Championship. Can they do it? You got to suit up and play the games – it will be fun to watch it all go down over the next 3 weeks!   Michael Wholey is the lead scout for Florida Prep Girls Hoop Florida and a former division one Assistant Coach at American University, University of Memphis, and Georgia Tech. Wholey and the rest of the Prep Girls Hoop staff, seek to cover the entire state of player, keeping subscribers up to date with player evaluations, recruiting info, and statewide news. Our audience often supplies us with some of our best information. If you have any information on players, teams, or statewide news in the state of Florida, emailing Michael Wholey at <a href="mailto:WholeyPrepHoops@gmail.com">WholeyPrepHoops@gmail.com</a> or DM him through Twitter or Instagram @WholeyPrepHoops.