Northeast Fl- If It’s January, that means it’s that time of the year again to play for all the bragging rights in Duval County and compete for the Gateway Conference Championship. Each year the 17 public schools that make up the conference play each other during the regular season. The top 12 teams make the tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye in the first round. This year those top seeds went to Ribault, Mandarin, Paxon and Atlantic Coast.
The first round and second round matchups and results were as follows:
First round:
Fletcher 44 Stanton 24
Raines 60 Westside 31
Ed White 45 Sandalwood 29
Jackson 34 Riverside 33
Second round:
Ribault 57 Fletcher 15
Paxon vs. Raines 59-38
Atlantic Coast 55 Ed White 52
Mandarin 34 Jackson 30
In the Semifinals, tournament favorite Ribault (11-4) faced Paxon (11-5) in the first game, and Atlantic Coast (16-1) took on defending champion Mandarin (9-5) in the second. Both games were avenging upsets as Paxon toppled top seed Ribault 61-60. While Atlantic Coast dethroned the defending champions in overtime 53-50.
For Paxon, it was their first win over Ribault in school’s history. Senior Ansley Hicks scored a game high 33 points leading the Golden Eagles to the historic victory. Said Hicks, “I was keeping the end-goal in mind because me and Kennedy really wanted a Gateway Conference championship”.
The win set up a matchup between two teams looking for their first Gateway Conference championships in school history. A highly competitive contest saw Paxon take a 33-32 halftime lead over Atlantic Coast in the championship bout. Hicks would pick up where she left off leading Paxon with 12-points in the first half. Atlantic Coast was led by junior Kylie Johnson who scored 8 of her team high 14 points.
Girls Gateway Conference Championship! Atlantic Coast 55 vs Paxon 66 pic.twitter.com/YhsjgTDlMF
— Duval Sports (@DuvalSports) January 20, 2024
The second half saw Atlantic Coast put up a strong effort by Imani Henderson who dominated on the boards, grabbing offensive rebounds and put backs toward her 12-points. Lyrie Hewitt chipped in with 13 points for the Stingrays.
Girls Gateway Conference Championship! Atlantic Coast 46 vs Paxon 51 pic.twitter.com/Jz2FuRfquR
— Duval Sports (@DuvalSports) January 20, 2024
Yet Paxon’s Kennedy Waymer would take over the game, scoring 10 of her 18-points (tied for game high) in the second half. Waymer attacked the basket time and time again like an Eagle swooping down for it’s prey. She feasted on defenders using her lightning quickness to blow past Stingray guards.
@duvalsports #10 and #3 ♬ original sound – Duval Sports
Paxon’s entire team would eat on Friday night, as freshman Caelyn Carter scored 8 points and sophomore Reese Holman chipped in 10 points. Holman is the team’s X-Factor, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots all tournament. Said Holman after the game “we just had to lock in and I wanted to make sure that I was there for my teammates doing everything I can”.
As the clock ticked down, smiles, laughter, and jubilation ensued as reality set in for Paxon. They had accomplished something that other great girls basketball teams at Paxon could not and that’s conqueror the competition in Duval County as Gateway Conference Champions.
Coach Rod Carter captained a middle school powerhouse program at Highlands winning several girls county basketball championships. He now has steered Paxon to it’s first high school County championship in just his fourth season. Paxon 68 Atlantic Coast 57-Final
