JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Raines Lady Vikings capped off a brilliant week of basketball Thursday night, defeating their rivals the Ribault Lady Trojans 65-57 to capture it’s first ever Gateway conference championship.
Nyla Allen would lead the Lady Vikings with 21 points, as Coach Julius Paden’s team pulled away from the upstart Trojans late in the game.
After a first round bye, On January 14th, the Lady Vikings took on the First Coast Lady Buccaneers in the second round of the Girl’s Basketball Gateway Conference Tournament.
The Lady Buccaneers were first on the board thanks to senior guard Tyra Blair (First Coast). But the Lady Vikings quickly got their offense going and did not look back. With 3:30 remaining in the first, junior guard Selah Reddick (Raines), got a steal and threw it ahead to her teammate for the easy lay in to put the Lady Vikings up 8-2. The Lady Vikings would continue to dominate on offense and defense to bring the first quarter to a close with the score of 24-9.
To begin the second quarter the Lady Buccaneers got on the board first thanks to two sunken free throws by junior guard, Anaya Reason (First Coast). But that did not phase the Lady Vikings. Senior point guard, Nyla Allen (Raines), got a steal and breakaway and one lay up. Junior guard Courtney Lewis (Raines) got another steal for the Lady Vikings and junior power forward Jamicia Davis (Raines) finished the lay up. With five minutes to go in the half the Lady Vikings found themselves with a comfortable lead of 31-12.
The Lady Buccaneers went on a little run of their own thanks to Blair drawing defenders to her and dishing to her open teammate. But it was not enough as the Lady Vikings still had a commanding lead at the half, 47-24.
The Lady Vikings came out of the locker room with one goal, to hold the Lady Buccaneers scoreless the rest of the game, and they did just that. The Lady Vikings went on a 24-0 run, while the original goal was to go on a 15-0 run. Allen (Raines) had a beautiful in and out and found the open lane to lay the ball in.
She would end the game with 17 points, 5 steals and 13 deflections to help the Lady Vikings get a big win over First Coast with the final score being 71-24.
The Vikings would then make short work of Terry Parker in the semifinal round winning 54-23. Selah Reddick jump started the Vikings at halftime scoring 8 points.
The Vikings held off a first half barrage of points by Parker’s Janell Johnson who scored 6 points at the half.
It wasn’t enough however as the Vikings moved on to face their rival Ribault in the championship game.
The win over Ribault marks a significant milestone for Raines Girls Basketball. Coming up short in years past in the Gateway tournament, and playing second fiddle behind Ribault’s storied program, the Vikings are now the talk of the town.
They’ll look to ride the momentum of this win to end the regular season and into districts as they continue to roll with a 23-1 record.
