The Williston girls basketball team didn’t make a single field goal in the third quarter of the True Force Shootout white bracket championship game at Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua on Monday afternoon.

They didn’t have to.

The Rural No. 2 Lady Red Devils scored the only points they would need early, exploding for 33 first-quarter points in a 60-29 win against Class 6A Buchholz.

“It’s good because this team has never won a championship, so you’ve got to learn how to win championships to be championship people,” said Williston coach Willie Powers II. “I thought tonight we came out and played hard and did what I asked them to do. The last three games we’ve played hard, so hopefully we can take this momentum into the rest of the season.”

Eight different players scored in the first quarter as Williston built a dominating 33-3 lead after just eight minutes of play.

Freshman Janiyah Span (9 points) opened the scoring with a right-wing 3-pointer just 15 seconds into the game, followed by a layup 10 seconds later for a 5-0 lead.

A reverse layup by senior Ashlyn Young (game-high 13 points), a right-corner 3-ball by junior Tiona Wilkinson (8 points) and another bucket by Wilkinson on an offensive putback extended the lead to 12-0, which led to a Buchholz timeout.

In fact, the Lady Red Devils (8-2) built a 26-0 lead on a free throw by sophomore Kaelynn Brown (7 points) with just under three minutes to play in the first quarter.

“Because we played hard,” Powers said. “We trapped the ball, we ran, we got out and ran, and I just think they had a focus of trying to win a championship. That’s a good sign.”

Buchholz (8-4) didn’t get its first field goal until sophomore Alessia Chaves-Torres (5 points) scored on a layup with 1:22 remaining in the quarter.

Things were going so well that Williston sophomore Trinity Solomon (5 points) banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing with four seconds left in the first quarter.

Young opened the scoring in the second quarter with a pair of free throws and finished the quarter with seven points after scoring six in the opening period.

“She facilitated the ball, got the ball to where we needed, defended, just being the team leader that she is,” Powers said.

Following a right-wing 3-pointer by junior Delecia Dallas (6 points), Young hit one of two free throws to give Williston its largest lead, 48-5, with 2:52 remaining in the half.

A left-corner 3-pointer by Buchholz senior Taylor Booth (team-high 10 points) with four seconds left in the quarter made it 48-10 at the half, but the second half was played with a running clock.

Willison’s bench, led by Kierce Solomon’s 12 points, almost single-handedly outscored Buchholz’s starters (23 points) with 20 points.

“And that’s what we’re trying to get,” Powers said. “It’s harder to guard five, so we’re just trying to get everybody acclimated to playing at our pace and do what we need to do to get to be champions.”

Forest (Ocala), which lost to Buchholz, 54-49, in Sunday’s semifinals, defeated Eastside, 55-32, in the third-place game.

The Rock 70, Forest (Ocala) 64 – In the boys red bracket championship game, the Lions never trailed in the game, but the Wildcats stayed in the game thanks to their 3-point shooting.

Juniors Evan McCumber and Kayden Merricks combined for 41 points as The Rock School’s varsity team defeated FHSAA Class 6A No. 11 Forest (Ocala), 70-64, to finish 3-0 in the tournament.

“This program, being three years in, we’ve made progress each year,” said TRS coach Brian Findley. “Last year, we made it to a championship game up in North Carolina and this year to actually complete the task and win against quality opponents like Williston (63-60 in the semifinals) and Forest, which is a really good team, so yeah, this is a big win for us as a program.”

After McCumber (19 points) opened the scoring with a steal and layup for a 2-0 lead with 7:26 to play in the first quarter, Forest tied it on a bucket by 6’7 senior center Latron Pierce (3 points).

But that’s as close as the Wildcats (11-3) would get to taking a lead.

McCumber extended a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter to 20-9 on a 3-ball in the left corner just 10 seconds into the second quarter and a layup just six seconds later. He scored nine of his 11 first-half points in the second quarter.

“Evan’s just kind of been even,” Findley said. “He’s been playing really well, not too up, not too low, just great. And then today he came through. He made some really key shots today, yesterday. He had a great tournament.”

Forest stayed in the game thanks to its 3-point shooting.

Senior Chandler Davison (21 points) made three of his seven 3-pointers in the second quarter to help cut the deficit to single digits twice in the half.

After a top-of-the-key 3-pointer by TRS junior Kyroe Jordan (5 points) with 51 seconds left in the half for a 35-21 lead, Forest answered with a top-of-the-key 3-ball by senior Trey Chisolm (game-high 26 points) to cut it to 11, 35-24, at the break.

In the third quarter, following a top-of-the-key 3-pointer by Chisolm, the Wildcats were within single digits at 39-31, Merricks took over for the Lions.

He scored eight of their 10 points on a left-wing 3-pointer, a left-corner 3-ball, and a floater on the right baseline for a 49-36 lead with 3:24 remaining in the period.

“Caden, he actually had a down game from yesterday because he had 22 in the first half (vs. Williston), and he’s just playing amazing right now,” Findley said. “He’s playing very unselfish. He’s getting the ball to others. He’s playing good defense, and the points are coming because the kid works his butt off all the time. I’m so proud of the steps he’s taken as a leader for this program.”

Forest was able to chip away in the fourth quarter thanks to the long ball, knocking down four more 3s to finish with 14 for the game.

However, after a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Davison made it a two-possession game, 67-61, with 52 seconds to play, freshman Levi Hyatt made 3-of-4 free throws in a four-second span for a 70-61 lead with 31 seconds to play.

Marco Johnson had 13 points and Hyatt added 10 as four players scored double figures for The Rock.

Bradford (Starke) 55, Santa Fe (Alachua) 39 (championship/Boys Gray Bracket) – Santa Fe had wins against St. John Paul II (Tallahassee) and Belleview to advance to the boys gray bracket championship game.

The Raiders (5-10) only trailed the Tornadoes, 29-28, at halftime in the championship game. However, Bradford outscored Santa Fe, 25-11, in the second half to win the title.

“We’re getting better,” said Santa Fe coach Glen Banks. “We’re young. Guys don’t understand basketball yet, but we are moving in the right direction. We haven’t won a lot, but we’ve been in a lot of close ones.”

Banks tweaked certain aspects of this year’s tournament, including the name.

“We changed the name because Hitchcock’s went out of business, and I decided we’re going to do it a little different,” he said. “The cost is $300 per game for refs, so we had to figure out a way to get more teams. I listened to coaches who said, ‘Coach, we like coming to your tournament, but we don’t want to play four games and we don’t want to get beat up by bigger teams,’ so this year I listened, and I made a bigger bracket and a smaller bracket, and a girls bracket.”

Williston 52, Oakleaf (Orange Park) 40 (third-place/Boys Red Bracket) – The FHSAA Rural No. 7 Red Devils (7-4) finished in third place in the boys red bracket with a 12-point win against the Class 6A Knights (6-8).

“It’s probably the best defensive effort as a team we have given all season,” said Williston coach Jim Ervin. “We always have two or three guys that go out and defend and put pressure on the ball, but today all five guys on the court defended very well. We did what we needed to do in rotations and jumping the ball, so did a nice job tonight.”

True Force Shootout Scores – Monday, Dec. 29

Boys

Gray Bracket
Branford 58, Taylor County (Perry) 42 (consolation championship)
St. John Paul II (Tallahassee) 43, Bell 37
Belleview 67, Hamilton County (Jasper) 51 (third place)
Bradford (Starke) 55, Santa Fe (Alachua) 39 (championship)

Red Bracket
P.K. Yonge 62, Pensacola Catholic 29 (consolation championship)
South Dade (Homestead) 42, Suwannee (Live Oak) 24
Williston 52, Oakleaf (Orange Park) 40 (third place)
The Rock School 70, Forest (Ocala) 64 (championship)

Girls

White Bracket
GHS 67, Santa Fe (Alachua) 14 (consolation championship)
The Rock School 70, Bell 18
Forest (Ocala) 55, Eastside 32 (third place)
Williston 60, Buchholz 29 (championship)