Ridaught: Williston, Hawthorne in elite district

First-year Williston coach Willie Powers has the Red Devils sitting at 14-2
First-year Williston coach Willie Powers has the Lady Red Devils sitting at 14-2 and No. 16 overall in Florida.
Photo by C.J. Gish

The best girls basketball team in the area is Williston, which is ranked 16th overall in Florida in the latest Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) rankings.

Yet, the Lady Red Devils have an enormous challenge ahead of them.

They are in the same district (Rural District 7) as Wildwood, which is currently 17-0 and ranked No. 6 overall in Florida, and two-time defending state champion Hawthorne.

They are also in the same region (Region 4), meaning two of those teams won’t make it to the final four and one of them won’t make it past the first round of the FHSAA state playoffs.

In The Prep Zone Power Poll, which ranks the top 20 high school teams across 26 counties in Florida, Wildwood is ranked No. 1, Williston is second and Hawthorne is ranked No. 12.

Wildwood, which defeated Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto), 100-29, last night, travels to 5A No. 5 Gainesville on Tuesday night followed by the home finale against 1A No. 7 Mount Dora Christian Academy next Friday.

Hawthorne (8-3), which defeated 4A North Marion (Citra) on the road last night, is at 6A Buchholz on Tuesday, followed by home games on Thursday against Rural No. 13 Chiefland (16-3), which is also in District 7, and next Friday against 5A Vanguard (Ocala).

Williston (14-2) hosts 3A No. 11 Tampa Catholic tonight at 6 p.m., followed by 3A No. 6 The Villages at the West Port (Ocala) shootout on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) and the regular season finale at 3A Bradford (Starke) on Tuesday.

District tournaments are the first week of February for both girls and boys, so the race is on to see who can secure the top seed.

Last year, No. 4 seed Hawthorne upset No. 1 seed Wildwood, 44-41, in the state semifinals on their way to a second straight title and third overall (2020).

But that was on a neutral floor at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

Any hopes of getting to Lakeland this year could mean a trip to Wildwood to get there.

“If the FHSAA did like they do in football, after districts reseed, then you’ll have the best teams at the final four,” said Williston first-year coach Willie Powers, who joined The Prep Zone sports show last Wednesday along with members of the team. “Your numbers (attendance) would be higher, there would be more participation from fans, but we don’t make those decisions…you have two of the top three in the same district and the same region, so you just have to fight to live for another day.”

The FHSAA doesn’t reseed the teams until the final four. If they reseeded the teams prior to the regional final, for the right to go to the state semifinals, there could potentially be one area team to make it to Lakeland

Instead, either Hawthorne or Williston will likely have to travel to Wildwood for that right.

But that could change.

Williston (10.52) has a slight advantage in strength of schedule compared to Wildwood (9.52), which makes the district tournament huge as far as seeding will go for the regional tournament.

The Lady Red Devils have played 7A No. 11 West Port (Ocala), GHS, at 4A No. 4 Rickards (Tallahassee), at 1A No. 4 North Florida Educational Institute (Jacksonville), and 2A No. 6 Providence (Jacksonville), who they defeated last Saturday.

“I definitely put this schedule together for a reason,” said Powers, who coached at P.K. Yonge for 21 years. “For us to be where we want to be we have to play the best.”

They defeated Class 2A No. 10 Trinity Catholic (Ocala) by 31 points last Tuesday.

“That’s the most focused we’ve been all year, and when we’re focused, we’re a very good basketball team,” said Powers, whose team knocked down 10-of-22 shots from 3-point range. “It’s another thing in trying to build a championship quality team, the mentality, you’ve got to be mentally strong. You’ve got to be locked in, and you can’t have any drama.”

The Lady Red Devils are trying to keep their circle small and not listen to any outside distractions.

“My thing to them has been ‘don’t let anyone infiltrate your circle,’ conversations with parents that don’t come back here,” he said. “We are all we’ve got and once you do that you become pretty good and you trust each other, and that’s one thing that really helps us if we can trust each other when we’re out there on that court.”

The tough schedule, while challenging, is a double-edged sword and has been both good and bad.

“It’s getting pretty watered down now that we’re putting all of these rankings in that people don’t want to play people and it’s affecting girls basketball,” Powers said. “When I first started, we took an honor in playing the best teams night in and night out, whether you win or lose, because it sold the sport of girls basketball which wasn’t selling well, and we’re trying to bring that back to Williston. The boys get sellouts, we’re trying to get sellouts.”

The best boys basketball team in the area is also Williston, which is ranked 57th overall.

The two-time defending state champions
 are ranked No. 1 in the Rural classification, while Hawthorne, ranked 87th overall, is No. 2.

Wildwood (235th overall) is also in the mix at No. 7 in the classification, which makes for an interesting district tournament and postseason.

The home-court advantage will be huge.

Last Friday, Williston defeated Hawthorne, 66-54, to extend a home winning streak that dates to Feb. 8, 2022, when the Red Devils lost in their district championship game against Trenton.

That streak is in jeopardy tonight when Williston hosts unbeaten Newberry. The Panthers (16-0), who are ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, defeated the Red Devils, 72-60, in Newberry on Jan. 10.

Williston (13-8), which has a 14.79 strength of schedule compared to a 6.72 for Hawthorne, closes out the regular season at 6A Buchholz next Thursday, which will be broadcast online (audio only), and the regular season home finale against 3A No. 3 The Villages on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Hawthorne, which knocked off 4A North Marion (Citra) on the road last night, 64-61, plays 2A Bell Creek Academy (Riverview) tonight at 7 p.m. and 5A Pine Ridge (Deltona) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Iverson Classic Blackout Signature Series at The Villages.

The Hornets (10-2) close out the regular season with three games next week at 2A P.K. Yonge on Monday, at 6A Buchholz on Tuesday, and the home regular-season finale against Chiefland on Thursday.

Wildwood (18-4) will travel to 7A East Ridge (Clermont) on Monday and 1A First Academy-Leesburg next Thursday, followed by the regular season home finale against 1A Mount Dora Christian Academy.

Once again, only one of those three will make the final four.

With the top two teams in the state in the same district, both girls and boys, there is no other district in Florida that can claim that.

That makes it the most elite district in the Sunshine State.

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