Recapping the 6A Finals

<strong>Recapping the 6A Finals </strong> By Michael Wholey 3/1/22 10:00 AM EST <em>St. Thomas Aquinas and Wekiva defeated Nease and Bloomingdale easy in the semi-finals and matched up against each other in the 6A Finals with St. Thomas taking home the championship for the second year in a row.  </em> &nbsp; <img class="alignleft wp-image-393339 " src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/Karina-Gordon4-2018-PC-e1645938799620-300x276.jpg" alt="" width="176" height="162" />St. Thomas Aquinas defeated Nease 63-45 in the semi-finals using full court pressure from the jump ball to the final buzzer forcing 39 turnovers.  St. Thomas is talented, athletic, and deep and used their ability to play deep into their bench by applying the pressure for the entire game pressuring the ball in the full court and half court as well as running through passing lanes for deflections and steals.  <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="91641" first="Karina" last="Gordon"]</strong> led St Thomas with a game high 19 points, while Richmond signee [player_tooltip player_id="154841" first="Jada" last="Green"] added 14 points to go along with 5 steals. &nbsp; <img class=" wp-image-393340 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/Bre-Gustave-Miami-Suns-235x300.jpg" alt="" width="137" height="175" /> <span style="font-size: 1rem;">In the finals, it was Wekiva that jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, but St Thomas stayed the course and took the lead late into the 2</span>^nd<span style="font-size: 1rem;"> quarter </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and went into halftime leading 21-19.  Unsigned Senior </span><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">[player_tooltip player_id="91572" first="Breanna" last="Gustave"]</strong><span style="font-size: 1rem;"> finished with a team high 23 points on 8/15 from the field and 5/6 from the free throw line. Gordon reached double digits again with 11 points, while Junior </span><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">[player_tooltip player_id="151282" first="Alancia" last="Ramsey"]</strong><span style="font-size: 1rem;"> was a big presence inside finishing with 12 points and 7 rebounds on 5/10 from the field.  In the end, St. Thomas took care of business defeating Wekiva 59-45 and taking home the 6A State Championship for the second consecutive year.</span> &nbsp; <img class=" wp-image-368463 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/20211118_192249-224x300.jpg" alt="" width="153" height="204" /> &nbsp; In the semi-final matchup, Nease fell to St. Thomas 63-45.  Unfortunately, Nease’s leading scorer, Florida Southern signee Senior Guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="243958" first="Sydney" last="Gomes"]</strong> left the game in the 2^nd quarter and did not return.  With Gomes being responsible for a bulk of Nease scoring, they struggled to put the ball in the hoop. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="243999" first="Camryn" last="Robinson"]</strong> and <strong>Allison Fifield</strong> did their best to keep Nease in the game.  Robinson finished with 16 points on 6/9 shooting and Fifield scored 13 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. &nbsp; <img class="wp-image-393341 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/Jada-Eads-Wekiva-10-135x300.jpg" alt="" width="136" height="299" /> Wekiva unfortunately fell to St. Thomas 59-45 in the championship game after defeating Bloomingdale in the semi-finals.  In the semi-finals Wekiva jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.  Sophomore Guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="243885" first="Jada" last="Eads"]</strong> did what has been doing all year and dropped 21 points (15 in 1^st half) to lead Wekiva in scoring while Senior   Wekiva with 21 points <strong>Rylan Moffitt </strong>had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.The semi-final win earned Wekiva a re-match with St. Thomas in the finals and for the second year in a row Wekiva lost in the championship game.  Wekiva jumped out to a 7-0 lead but went into half trailing 27-24.  In the second half St Thomas outscored Wekiva 32-21, and St Thomas claimed the title defeating Wekiva 59-45.  Eads once again did all she could to keep Wekiva in the game, leading the team in scoring with 23 points on 7/22 from the field, 5/14 from 3, and 4/4 from the free throw.  Unfortunately, no one else from Wekiva scored more than 6 points and Wekiva fell in the championship game for the 3^rd year in a row ending a fantastic season. <img class=" wp-image-339028 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/Raposo-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="135" height="180" /> &nbsp; &nbsp; For Bloomingdale, they finished the season with an impressive 25-5 record and a top 4 finish in 6A.  They had a rough final game, shooting just 15% from the field on 9/61 from the field.  Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="248439" first="Joline" last="Raposo"]</strong> scored 13 of her teams 29 points on 5/18 from the field and grabbed 6 rebounds to wrap up a stellar prep career. &nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>Michael Wholey</strong> 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.