Seniors Kalia Harrington and Kamryn Corporan combined for 42 points as St. Thomas Aquinas knocked off previously undefeated Valerico Bloomingdale 70-35 to capture its fourth straight Class 6A state championship on Saturday at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Harrington (22 points) and Corporan got the Raiders off to a huge first-half lead and they coasted to the win. Khadee Hession, who is signed with Georgetown University, added 16 points and six rebounds as the Raiders (23-9) cruised to the state title.
“We knew that Bloomingdale was a solid team,” said Raiders coach Oliver Berens by phone. “They were 30-0 and they were going to come in confident. We played a national schedule all season to prepare us for games like this – the big stage and we were ready We knew that we weren’t going to see anything we hadn’t seen.”
”This state championship is truly a team effort,” he added. “We overcame a lot of adversity to get here.”
Hession said going into the game, her team’s defense would have to carry them. She had five points in the first and 14 by halftime.
“We knew they wanted to play a slow game from watching film and we planned to rush and push the whole game,” Hession said. “Bringing four straight state championships to St. Thomas is a great feeling.”
St. Thomas Aquinas blitzed Bloomingdale 20-9 in the first quarter and then 19-5 in the second to open a 39-14 lead at the half. The Raiders led by as much as 38 with 3:03 remaining in the game. Berens put in his seniors with 22 seconds remaining for a curtain call.
Senior center Mya Johnson, who is headed for Bethune Cookman, said overcoming all the adversity, including losing to rival Blanche Ely twice this season, made the win even more special. They also lost to Ely 54-45 during the season.
“Being a senior and going through so much adversity throughout the season, this one meant a lot to me and the team and we went to bring it home,” Johnson said. “Losing to Ely really woke us up as a tea. We met after that game and told ourselves that nothing was coming in between us and states. And that’s what happened.”