Mike Ridaught
This past Saturday at the R.P. Funding Center in Lakeland, the Hawthorne girls’ basketball team and the Williston boys basketball team won the FHSAA Class 1A state title.
It was the second straight state title for both programs, ending a long drought as repeat champions in the sport.
Hawthorne rallied past Graceville, 43-40, in the championship game by overcoming an 11-point first-half deficit.
The Hornets also trailed Wildwood by 12 points in the state semifinals but outscored the Wildcats 13-2 in the fourth quarter to advance.
“To get two wins in Lakeland the way we got them, that doesn’t happen to a lot of teams,” said Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram. “I’m extremely proud of these girls. I love them to death. Our fan base was awesome. Their parents have been outstanding since I started coaching them. Hawthorne is a very special place.”
Last year, Hawthorne defeated Wildwood in the state championship game.
Junior guard De’Mya Adams, who scored 18 points in the semifinals and 17 points in the title game, said this year’s championship was the toughest because they had a bullseye on their back but also because they had to overcome double-digit deficits in the final four.
Ingram agreed.
“This year was the slowest start I’ve probably been a part of as a coach, any game,” he said. “And you’re talking about the magnitude of this game (championship), having a slow start like we did. Yeah, I would say this one.”
Adams elevated her game during crunch time, scoring five points in a 3:30-minute stretch of the fourth quarter against Wildwood with her team down, plus 11 points in the final period against Graceville.
“I’m kind of another coach on the court,” Adams said in the press conference on Saturday. “I’m telling everybody, ‘let’s just cut the lead, cut the lead, cut the lead’ and in that moment I just felt I had to take over. I had to get the win for my team and for my senior right here (Lakijah Brown).”
Ingram called Brown (nine points, eight steals in the championship game) the “heart and soul of our team.”
“She does a lot of the dirty work,” he said. “Sometimes she doesn’t get a lot of the credit every single night because she might not have 15 or 20 points, but she put us in the right offensive sets.”
Junior Jhalea Jackson was solid in both games, with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the semifinals and 13 points and 13 rebounds in the title game.
“Jhalea is our point forward,” Ingram said. “She can bring the ball up the floor, or we know if she gets the ball in the middle of the floor at the free throw line extended area, she’ll turn and make the right play. These three have done so much for Hawthorne girls basketball.”
The Lady Hornets (22-3), who won their final 19 games of the season, became the first Alachua County girls hoops team to win back-to-back.
Since the FHSAA Girls Basketball state championships began in 1976, only 14 area teams have won a state championship.
The Trenton girls won back-to-back Class A state titles in 1979 and 1980, while P.K. Yonge won a pair of 2A state titles in 1981 and 1983.
But it took a decade before the area brought home another girls basketball state title.
Keystone Heights won the 2A state title in 1994 and the 3A state championship in 1995 under head coach Kathleen Boatwright.
The Indians also won the 3A state title in 1997 under Boatwright.
It was also the third state girls basketball title for Hawthorne and Ingram, who won the 1A state title in 2020.
The Lady Hornets became the first area team to win consecutive state titles since Keystone almost 30 years ago.
Coach Willie Powers and P.K. Yonge were the last area team to come close, winning the 2A title in 2010, followed by the 3A state title two years later in 2012.
Other area teams to win girls basketball state titles include Buchholz (7A – 2013) and Trenton (1A – 2019).
Ingram led the Hawthorne football team to consecutive Class 1R state titles, including a 22-13 win against Madison County in December’s state championship game.
He improved to 4-0 in his last four state championship game appearances.
“God has blessed me tremendously with outstanding players, great coaching staffs, and that’s both sports, but tonight (Saturday) was another sign of high-character kids never giving up,” Ingram said. “I have a dream job coaching at home and coaching this special bunch that I get to coach.”
Meanwhile, the Williston boys defeated Hilliard, 61-53, to win its second straight Class 1A state title.
The Red Devils set a school record for wins in finishing 29-2 this season.
“It feels good, this is back-to-back so it’s history for Williston,” said senior Kyler Lamb, who scored 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists in the 1A state semifinals. “Growing up here, making the community proud, everybody here to support us, so it feels great.”
Senior Javon Brown (15 points in the final and 10 points and nine rebounds in the semifinals) was one of three Red Devils to score in double figures in the title game.
“It’s a great but sad feeling because for us seniors this was our last game, but at least we went out with a win,” Brown said. “It’s a good way to go out for sure.”
Fellow senior Reggie White, who led the team with six assists in the title game, added 14 points, along with Dunnellon transfer Aramys Rodriguez.
“Reggie has become a team leader, a young man that has grown so much, not only as a basketball player but also as a young man,” said Williston coach Jim Ervin. “He got his team up when they were down. We were in some tough spots and Reggie rallied them on the court like a coach would.”
FHSAA state championship games in boys’ basketball dates all the way back to 1922.
Since that time a total of 14 area teams have won it all.
Gainesville won the first one in 1923 when there were no designated classifications.
Dixie County (Cross City) won a pair of Class B state titles in 1938 and 1939.
Columbia (Lake City) won its first state title (Class B) in 1947.
It took the area another 20 years to win the next one, when the FHSAA expanded to four classes and GHS won the 2A state title in 1969 under head coach Ed Poore.
But once again, the area had another drought as the next state championship in boys’ basketball didn’t come until 1987, when Hawthorne won the Class A state title, its first in program history.
In 1991, P.K. Yonge won the 2A state title under head coach Randall Leath.
Eight years later, GHS won the first of consecutive 5A state titles under coach Anthony Long in 1999, followed by a repeat in 2000.
In fact, Williston’s state title on Saturday marked the first time that the area has won back-to-back state titles since the Hurricanes almost 25 years ago.
“Last year (was tougher) just because of the unknown,” Ervin said. “This year there was a lot of confidence. They knew they were the best team in the state, I think one of the top 10 teams in the state out of all classifications.”
Ervin called this team the most special team he’s had in his 25 years of coaching.
“It’s impossible to find a group of young men with this type of ability, work ethic, but off the court what they do,” he said. “It’s outstanding. I don’t think we had an issue all season with our team as far as when we go to events, in the school classroom, anywhere we go, they’re just outstanding young men. I’m going to miss them more as young men than I am as basketball players.”
Other area state champions in boys’ basketball include Eastside (5A – 2006), GHS (5A – 2009), Hawthorne (1A – 2020) and Bradford (Starke), which won the 1A state title in 2022.
Williston became the first Levy County boys basketball team to win a state title last year and they became the first team from the Tri-County area to win back-to-back since Dixie County 85 years ago.