Orange Park Fl- Tuesday night featured a match up of two of the best teams in Northeast Florida. Orange Park led by Eris Lester hosted Ponte Vedra who is led by Morgan Gavazzi and Kennedy Rosendahl. Both teams were coming off very good seasons last year, and both feel like they have unfinished business this year. So the expectations were high for both teams. The game definitely did not disappoint as it came down to the final possession to decide the winner.
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Orange Park held off a late comeback attempt by successfully defending two possessions in the final twelve seconds of the game, where Ponte Vedra attempted to send the game into overtime. Orange Park escaped with a 49-46 victory.
Both teams started out with a lot of nervous energy as the first couple minutes of the game was marred with turnovers and missed shots. Orange Park broke into the scoring column first with a three from Autumn Nesmith from the corner. That was followed by two three’s from Eris Lester and Orange Park was quickly up 9-0 at the four-minute mark in the first quarter. Ponte Vedra finally got on the board at the 2:28 mark with a three from Rosendahl. The quarter ended with another three from Haley Ravek and Orange Park took a 12-3 lead to head into the second quarter.
The second quarter was very different as Ponte Vedra finally broke out of their shooting slump that hampered them for most of the first quarter. The scoring was opened with a three by Morgan Gavazzi. They were able to pull closer to Orange Park and were only down 13-19 with 4:15 remaining in the quarter. They couldn’t get any closer though as Lester scored 10 of her game-high 23 points in the quarter and helped Orange Park take a 27-15 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was much of the same for both teams. Ponte Vedra was now scoring more consistently after some adjustments from the coaching staff coming out of halftime. They couldn’t close the gap in the scoring column though as Orange Park’s offense was still clicking on all cylinders. Orange Park still led by 12-points going into the fourth quarter with a 39-27 lead.
The fourth quarter was a completely different story. It was like a game of its own within the game. Orange Park found it difficult to score as Ponte Vedra switched to a full court press on defense causing two straight turnovers and went on a 4-0 run forcing an early timeout. Orange Park ran their ATO to perfection as Lester had an and-1 to break the scoring drought. The momentum was still on Ponte Vedra’s side though and Gavazzi caught fire scoring 10 of her team leading 18 points in the quarter.
The scoring was contagious as her teammates started knocking down shots as well and were able to cut the led to 3 on a three-pointer from Taylor Perce. Lester answered with a lay up on the other end to push the lead back to five. Maya Richards answered with a lay up of her own to pull Ponte Vedra back to within 3. Orange Park committed a turnover and Ponte Vedra took full advantage as Rosendahl hit a huge 3-pointer to tie the game with one minute remaining.
Orange Park would come back down and get a huge shot of their own from Nesmith as she hit a short baseline jumper through contact and earned a trip to the foul line. She converted the and-1 to put them back up by 3-points with 46.4 seconds left in the game. That would prove to be the game winning shot as Ponte Vedra was unable to convert on multiple attempts.
Orange Park is currently 2-1 on the season. After falling to an undefeated Bolles team 59-48, the Raiders rebounded to defeat Camden County (Ga) Friday 61-52. Orange Park got 20-points from Eris Lester and Piera Alexander scored 16-points in the win. It’s that type of start by Orange Park, that’s put the squeeze on opponents from both Florida and Geaorgia, giving the Raiders a promising start.
