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Twelve seconds was all it took for Jennell Houston to drain an opening jumper for a North Florida Educational Institute lead.
Then Grandview Prep spent the remaining 31 minutes and 48 seconds to send the hometown hopes crashing down.
The Boca Raton school showed off its championship pedigree and ended North Florida Educational Institute’s season 65-36 on March 5 in the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A girls basketball semifinals.
“I wish we could have that first half back,” said NFEI coach Tony Bannister, who was attempting to win an FHSAA title 20 years after his 2006 success with Shekinah Christian.
Bannister said a flu bug had taken a toll for some players for NFEI, which had pressed Grandview Prep to the finish in the 2025 title game in a 69-58 loss but had no answer in the rematch for the Pride’s athletes.
Jasleen Green, committed to Arizona, notched a double-double and nearly hit both marks before halftime, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Ameera Kone piled up points inside and outside, racking up 24. Victoria Valle rocketed up the court in transition for an 17-point night inside the University of North Florida’s UNF Arena.
“We needed to be a little more patient, make them work a little bit harder defensively,” Bannister said. “We rushed some things early and when they got it, it was raining threes all over the place. It was hard to recover from that.”
After Houston notched the game’s first basket for NFEI (16-15), Grandview Prep unleashed runs of 11-0 and then 19-0 to end the Eagles’ challenge early.
The Pride (25-4), which won the rebounding battle 38-17, gets the chance to defend its championship at 12 p.m. March 7 against Orlando Christian Prep.
Sawsan Kamara led NFEI with 11 points.
NFEI graduates starters Houston and Daniella Pillajo but is set to return much of its lineup, including scoring leader Kamara, point guard Jorrdann Sibley and forward Gabriella Vyent.
“We’ll try to get back here,” Bannister said. “I just hate for our fans that we didn’t give them our best game.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Arizona commit, Grandview Prep end NFEI basketball run
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
