The 4A District 3 Championship featured a match-up of one the best rivalries in the area. It was the third time that Raines and Ribault had played each other this season with Raines winning the two earlier games, including the Gateway Conference Championship. Raines was led by Seniors Ahliah Brown, Jamicia Davis and Selah Reddick. Ribault was led by Seniors Samiya Carroll, Nigeria Harkless, Kendra Williams and Sophomore Asiana Britt.
Both teams started out cold from the field. There weren’t any points scored for either team until about 5 minutes on the clock. Once the scoring started, they traded baskets at first, but Ribault was able to seize control of the game. This was in part due to the absence of Ahliah Brown, who picked up three fouls early in the first quarter. Ribault didn’t take full advantage of her absence though. They missed a bunch of free throws in the first quarter and allowed Raines to stay in the game early. The score was 10-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams picked up the scoring in the second quarter, but Raines couldn’t close the gap with their leading scorer on the bench. Ribault extended their lead to 27-15 at halftime. The second half was more of the same. Every time Raines seemed to make a run, Ribault had an answer. Their lead ballooned to 20 points with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter. Raines never gave up though, as they made one final push but couldn’t get the deficit down to single digits because of missed free throws. Both teams fought hard, but Ribault prevailed with a 51-36 victory.
Raines (19-5) and Ribault (17-4) will both move on to the Regional Quarterfinals this week and Ribault seems to be riding high. Nigeria Harkless had a monster game along with Asiana Britt. Harkless committed to Mercer University this week after the big game, and will Ribault will look for her to lead them against Bolles (9-13) this week.
Raines will face rival Bishop Kenny in a matchup that has determined Final 4 participants from North Florida the last three years.
