2A State Tournament Preview

The FHSAA Girls Basketball State Finals start this Wednesday at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland. All 7 classes are down to 4 teams who won their respective Regionals Finals. We will see some new faces, some teams who haven’t been in a while, and some of the usual suspects. Here is a breakdown of the Class 2A State Finals: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>February 23:</strong></em></span> <strong>Faith Christian (1) vs. University Christian (4) – <em>10 AM</em></strong> <strong>Miami Christian (2) vs. Neumann (3)  – <em>12 PM</em></strong> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>February 26:</strong></em></span> <strong>State Championship – <em>10 AM</em></strong> MaxPreps Bracket Link – <a href="https://www.maxpreps.com/tournament/Vjowber0EeuAz5TgcHt2rg/UyE6I-4tEeuAz5TgcHt2rg/girls-basketball-21-22/2022-girls-basketball-state-tournament-2a.htm">2022 Girls Basketball State Tournament (2A) - MaxPreps</a> <hr /> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em>Faith Christian (26-4)</em></span></span> The Lions come is as the #1 overall seed in 2A after an impressive 26-win season so far. Faith Christian only has ONE upperclassmen on their entire roster, and they are led by a bunch of youngsters which makes this team even more incredible. This is the first appearance in school history for Faith Christian in the State Finals, and I can’t imagine it will be the last. They breezed through Regionals with wins over Merritt Island Christian, Orlando Christian Prep, and the closest one being with Central Florida Christian in the Regional Final by a score of 67-35. FC will need their young, slightly undersized roster to play big just like they have all season long. <strong>Players to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="221840" first="Dezmariah" last="Soto"] (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="248306" first="Camryn" last="Patterson"] (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="243908" first="Ciara" last="Hayes"] (2026), [player_tooltip player_id="249438" first="Victoria" last="Rodriguez"] (2025), [player_tooltip player_id="248305" first="Celina" last="Forine"] (2024)</strong> <hr /> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em>Miami Christian (19-8)</em></span></span> The Victors will be playing as the #2 overall seed in 2A after playing the toughest schedule in their class. They are looking to repeat as they were last year’s State Champs with a 73-63 victory over FAMU in the championship game. Miami Christian can put points up in a hurry (93 in each of the first two rounds of Regionals), and they will be the most battle-tested team in the field. They’ve cruised through the postseason with wins over Boca Raton Christian, Hebrew Academy, and the closest one being Berean Christian in the Regional Final by a score of 67-29. This team is similar to Faith Christian as they don’t have a lot of size, but their backcourt and smaller forwards are ballers. <strong>Players to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="154908" first="Enjulina" last="Gonzalez"] (2022), [player_tooltip player_id="221843" first="Samantha" last="Vales"] (2024), [player_tooltip player_id="244205" first="Ziul" last="Gonzalez"] (2024), Eizaenirys Allende (2022)</strong> <hr /> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em>Neumann (23-5)</em></span></span> The Celtics come in as the #3 overall seed after an outstanding 23-win year. St. John Neumann hasn’t made the tournament since 2008, so this is a big deal after such a long drought. They’ve had a couple close games on their road to Lakeland with wins over Sarasota Christian, Seacrest Country Day (54-44), and Keswick Christian (63-54) after a slow start. They have good size as no one on their team is shorter than 5’8", but Neumann has played the weakest schedule of the teams in the field so we will see if that plays a factor at all. <strong>Players to Watch: Leah Martin-Gonzales (2022), Sophia McCartney (2024), Elise Flannery (2023)</strong> <hr /> <span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><em>University Christian (18-11)</em></span> The Christians will be playing as the #4 overall seed and the only team that wasn’t a #1 seed in their regional to make it to Lakeland in 2A. UC will be returning to Lakeland for the first time since they were runner-up in the 2016 State Finals. They were one game away the last two seasons, but they were beat by FAMU both years in the Regional Finals. That made the win on FAMU’s home court in the Regional Final even sweeter with a 55-53 final score. The rematch with FAMU was an exciting one that saw UC jump out to a big, early lead before FAMU came storming back. They eased past Aucilla Christian and Munroe in the first two Regional games while only allowing an average of 16 ppg to those teams.  University Christian will need 6’4" [player_tooltip player_id="247154" first="Yakiya" last="Milton"] to really step up and use her height against a smaller 2A field if the Christians want to make some noise with a solid Senior class to help her out. <strong>Players to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="247154" first="Yakiya" last="Milton"] (2023), [player_tooltip player_id="353625" first="Taijshiah" last="Baldwin"] (2022), Monique Cepeda (2022), Lariel Green (2022)</strong> <hr /> <div class="article-content"> Here are some Twitter opinions for the 2A class (first is from January, second is currently still being voted on): <img class="alignnone wp-image-391352" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/2A-Jan-Poll-300x256.jpg" alt="" width="352" height="300" />  <img class="alignnone wp-image-391353" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/02/2A-Feb-Poll-300x285.jpg" alt="" width="325" height="309" /> <hr /> &nbsp; <strong>Brandon Fisher</strong> is a Senior Scout for Prep Girls Hoops Florida and a Regional Scout for the PGH Circuit. If you have any information on players or teams, please email Brandon at brandonpghfl@gmail.com or DM him through Twitter/Instagram at @BrandonPGHFL. </div> &nbsp;