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Miami Herald
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Southridge comes up short of storybook ending to historic girls' basketball season
Sometimes even the most remarkable seasons don't have storybook endings. Southridge's girls' basketball team appeared destined for such a memorable finish after making it to its first state championship game with a small roster of only seven players, affectionately dubbed their 'Magnificent Seven.' Unfortunately for the Spartans, a dream season fell frustratingly short of ending with the program's first state title after a 43-41 loss to Valrico Bloomingdale in the Class 6A state final at the RP Funding Center. Southridge had two good shots in the final 7.8 seconds, the first of which could have given it the lead and the second of which could have tied the game. Neither found the mark. Naya Hardisson fired a three-pointer with roughly four seconds left, which barely grazed the rim. After a struggle for the rebound, the Spartans emerged with possession with four-tenths of a second left. Hardisson delivered a perfect inbounds pass to Emily Jean-Glaude, who fired a quick shot near the basket before the buzzer. But the ball sailed over the basket as time expired. 'We kept pushing hard on that but we just came up a little bit short,' Southridge freshman Sakura Barnes said. 'It's a 50-50 chance that the ball goes in. It's not the end of the world. We have another chance next year.' It was a crushing ending to an otherwise resilient and historic season for the Spartans (17-11), who made it to the state final four for the first time since 1987 and only the second time ever. Southridge did so by overcoming a tumultuous season, which saw it win eight of its previous nine games after a 9-9 start. The Spartans began the season with only six players and faced a precarious situation at that point when it lost one of its coaches and two of its players left to play flag football. Southridge needed to call up three players from its junior varsity team to better fill out its roster. The Spartans then had to regroup following a lopsided loss in the GMAC championship game to Miami High. Southridge did so by storming to a district championship it followed with impressive road victories over the state's top two seeds in Class 6A in St. Thomas Aquinas and Nova. 'It was a good play, but we just couldn't put it in the basket. These girls are very deserving and I'm very, very proud of them,' said Southridge assistant coach Stephasia Doctor, who guided the Spartans on this journey along with head coach Nicholas Rodriguez, who also coaches on the Spartans' football team; her uncle and Southridge boys' basketball head coach Robert Doctor, and assistant coach Carl Ballard. 'We went through a lot this season and they got here. These girls have bright futures ahead of them and I'm so proud of them.' Barnes led Southridge with 17 points and shot 3 for 6 from 3-point range. Zharianna Guion, who finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, put the Spartans ahead 35-34 with 1:19 left in the third quarter. Bloomingdale (25-5) opened the fourth with six consecutive points before Jean-Glaude answered with a free throw. Hardisson, who finished with 11 points, hit a three-pointer with 2:16 left to pull Southridge within a point. She later hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 42-41 with 30.4 seconds left. Unfortunately for the Spartans, who graduate only two of their seven players, they were unable to capitalize on their final two chances. 'We will back next year. This hurts right now, but we'll be back,' Hardisson said.
Miami Herald
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Southridge girls basketball upsets four-time defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas
The final result was a complete shocker. With a new coach Steph Doctor taking over five games ago the Miami Southridge girls' basketball team had the improbable task of upsetting four-time defending state champion in St. Thomas Aquinas in a Class 6A regional semifinal on Tuesday night. Led by sophomore point guard Naya Hardisson's game-high 21 points the Spartans proved they were a team not to be overlooked following a 52-49 stunning victory. Southridge (15-10) advances to Friday's regional final at 7 p.m. at Davie Nova. The Titans defeated Martin County 63-25 behind 21 points from Jaelynn Housey. 'They were the four-time state champs, and we came out and did what we had to do and came out on top,' Naya Hardisson said. 'We have heart, played together and we played as a team and that's what we did today. We've been underdogs everywhere we've gone. This game we wanted it more and we got it.' The victory came a year after a loss to Aquinas in last year's regional semifinal, 65-43. The Spartans' defense held Aquinas to only 11 points in each of the first three quarters and led 40-33 entering the decisive fourth quarter - one that the Raiders typically control. 'We needed to make big plays at the right time,' St. Thomas Aquinas coach Brandon Stewart said. 'The ball didn't go in the basket at certain points into the game. This hurts bad and tough to take this loss right now.' Nyla McFadden gave the Raiders a 43-42 lead with 5:06 to play and again with 1:50 remaining with a two-point basket for a 48-47 advantage. Naya Hardisson stepped up big as time was expiring on a Raiders comeback bid with five straight points to help seal the victory. 'We played as a family, played hard and played together,' said Doctor, who took over head coaching duties during the GMAC tournament. 'We also played great defense. We communicated on defense well. It was the best defense we've played all year.' In addition to Hardisson's scoring, freshman guard Sakura Barnes added 12 points and senior forward Emily Jean-Glauded 11 points. Aquinas was led by McFadden with 15 points and London Thomas with 13 points. Slow starts for Aquinas (18-9) increasingly became a concern. The four-time defending state champions were sluggish for much of the opening half. In addition, the Raiders top two offensive threats in Thomas and McFadden managed only 10 points between them and would trail to the Spartans 26-22 at the break. Aquinas only led Olympic Heights 12-11 after one quarter of last week's regional quarterfinal before winning 79-33. 'As coaches we wish we could control everything, but at the end of the day we had to play the game,' Stewart said. 'This is very disappointing that we won't have the opportunity to win a fifth title. 'This is going to keep me up tonight.'
