JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first night of the Sallye Daniels Tip-off Classic showed two of Jacksonville’s top girls basketball programs dominate on the hardwood.
The Orange Park Raiders (1-0) defeated the Middleburg Broncos (0-1), 65-30 behind a 25 point performance from freshman PG/SG Eris Lester. She was assisted by junior SF Nia Brown who contributed 10 points.
The Raiders held the Broncos in single digits each quarter while the Raiders most commanding quarter was the third. They scored 23 points after only scoring 4 points in the second quarter.
First year head coach Michael Nesmith is excited to see what happens with his team this season and spoke more about Lester.
“Yes she is a freshman,” he began. “But she’s a freshman that if you sleep on her she’ll have 10 or 12 points like that. She’s going to be an impact player for us.”
In the next game, the host Raines Vikings (1-0) defeated the Lee Generals (0-1), 62-43. Courtney Lewis (13 pts.), Jamicia Davis (11 pts.) and Ahliah Brown (10 pts.) combined for 34 of Raines 62 points.
The Vikings controlled the tempo right out of the gate. They only allowed the Generals to score 6 first quarter points while they scored 22. But as the game went on their lead began to dwindle due to the Generals being in the double bonus during both halves.
After the game head coach, Julius Paden talked more in depth about what he liked and disliked from his team’s performance.
“I think we need to get better defensively and staying locked in,” he said. “We got a little bit unfocused. We got a lot of work to do. But at the same time we got the chance to play a lot of young players and get them acclimated to what we do and how we get it done.”
Although the Vikings offense will no longer be ran by the influential point guard Nyla Allen, Coach Paden stated that his team has their next players loaded and ready to go.
“Nobody can fill a player like Nyla Allen’s shoes,” he stated. “We just load with the next person. Selah Reddick is as apt as any guard in the city and she’s going to do a fantastic job, along with Shemaiah Lester. All of these girls have had to guard Nyla everyday in practice last year and it just prepared them to go ahead and take the mantle.”
The Orange Park Raiders (1-0) and Raines Vikings (1-0) will face off this Thursday at Raines for night two of the tournament. Tip-off is set for 8pm.
