TAMPA – Winning a regional championship is so nice.
The King’s Academy has done it twice.
Last night (Feb. 17), the Lady Lions (23-4) girls basketball team traveled to Seffner Christian (25-5) for the FHSAA Class 3A-Region 2 Championship.
The Lady Lions defeated the Lady Crusaders 60-50 to punch their ticket back to the State Final Four in Lakeland.
King’s Academy was led by Jade Jones (’25) with 22 points.
Then-No. 2 seed King’s Academy traveled into enemy territory to face then-No. 1 seed Seffner Christian for the region final.
The first quarter was a very low scoring affair, the Lady Crusaders led the Lady Lions (16-14) .
Jones led the Lady Lions with seven points, while Jordan Race (’23) had another five points.
The Lady Crusaders came back and held a narrow 26-21 lead over the Lady Lions heading into halftime. Race led the Lions this quarter with three points.
During the third quarter, the Lady Lions started to heat up. They went on a scoring run of 22 points, while locking Seffner down to only six points during the quarter.
At the end of the third, the Lady Lions led the Lady Crusaders 47-31. Jones led the Lady Lions with six points, while Sofia Rathburn (’26), Janessa Williams (’23) and Sophia Kateris all had four points this quarter.
As the game entered the fourth quarter, the Lions were ready to finish the job and move on to Lakeland. Jones scored five points and Kateris scored three points.
After the final buzzer, the Lady Lions hoisted the regional champion trophy and celebrated with their teammates. There is now a new trophy ready to be added in the Loveland Athletics Center at TKA.
The now-No. 3 seed Lady Lions will advance to the Class 3A State Final Four. They will face now-No. 2 seed Cardinal Mooney (20-5) in a rematch of last year’s state semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
The Lady Lions are hyped and ready for next Wednesday’s game. Every member of the team is ready for the rematch.
Only one thing is on their mind:
“This year will be different.”
