After a 26 year absence , Bishop Kenny will make an appearance in the State Championship Final Four. Less than two weeks ago Coach Charlsea Clark expressed to Duval Sports , “I want to get the girls to the Final Four, one game at a time”. Dreams are possible when you are willing to work hard and believe. The Lady Crusaders are composed of young ballers whom understand that there is no “I” in “Team”.
Bishop Kenny (28-2) went head to head against Rickards (22-9) on Friday night. Jasmyne Roberts would lead the The Lady Crusaders with 28 points, 8 rebounds , 2 assists and 2 steals. Rose Dolmovich would score 12 points along with 2 rebounds. Maddie Millar scored 8 points , 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Rachel Dolmovich also would score 7 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds in the game. Honorable mentions as Cara McCarthy scored 2 points, picked up 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Renia Hawkins would lead The Lady Raiders with 17 points, Iyanla “Scrap” Woodfaulk 14 points and Keshonda Gaskin would score 9 points in the close contest.
The intense matchup brought out a multitude of fans from Jacksonville , Tallahassee and Georgia. Jasmyne Roberts wowed the crowd when she shot a 3 pointer placing Kenny on the scoreboard early on. Lady Raider Iyanla Woodfaulk immediately answered back with a 3 pointer of her own.
The small but mighty five foot guard pushed through the Kenny defense landing a jumper which would become a signature move throughout the game. Neither team would succumb to being outdone as Rickards and Kenny matched one another shot after shot. The rigorous game play would end the first quarter as both teams were tied 16-16.
Rickards took control of the second quarter blocking out the Bishop Kenny’s offense. A match up between the 5’11” Hawkins and the 5’10” Roberts would mount through the remainder of the game. Scoreless in the second quarter and down by 6 points , Roberts headed to the free throw line and began to remind Rickards whose house they were visiting.
After sinking a free throw and landing two shots back to back, Roberts would head the top of the Lady Crusaders offense by dribbling , waiting and then baiting the first victim to leave their zone. As soon as the player would take the bait, Roberts would quickly dive into the paint to take the shot. However despite the strong Kenny comeback, Hawkins and Woodfaulk along with McKenzie Lyons managed to lead Rickards to end the second quarter 28-25.
Third quarter action heated up another notch as both teams began again returning point for point. The constant switch between man to zone defense would send Hawkins and Roberts to the free throw line. Rose Dolmovich would disturb the Rickards defense striking 3-pointers across their zone defense. The Lady Crusaders took control of the game ending the third quarter with the 45-41 lead.
The unpredictable fourth quarter proved to be a nail bitter each second as Kenny began to shake up the solid Rickards offense forcing missed shots allowing The Lady Crusaders to decorate the scoreboard. Kenny mechanically moved the ball around to get the open shots . Challenged with a faster team, Kenny worked to stop Rickards bigs down low.
With seconds left, a foul against Rickards would send Roberts to the free throw line. After Roberts sunk both shots, Kenny would hold the 57-53 lead. Yet another foul against the Lady Raiders would send Millar to the free throw line as well. Millar would effortlessly swoosh both shots closing out the monumental game.
Bishop Kenny will take on Southeast (26-4) of Bradenton, FL in the state semi-finals on Wednesday February 27th at 6pm. Southeast defeated rival Booker in a defensive nail biter 37-36 in their regional final. Senior A’moni Waiters leads the Lady Seminoles averaging 16.4 ppg and will look to match Bishop Kenny’s Jasmyn Roberts who averages 18.3 ppg.
