High School

FHSAA Class 4A girls basketball state semifinal

Booker (Sarasota) vs. Palm Bay (Melbourne)

Bill Kemp

RP Funding Center prepares for the 5 p.m. semifinal.
RP Funding Center prepares for the 5 p.m. semifinal. / Bill Kemp

1

2

3

4

Final

Booker

12

9

9

Palm Bay

21

34

7

Booker takes on Palm Bay in a girls basketball state semifinal. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. from the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

The winner will play in the Class 4A state championship game Thursday at 5 p.m.

FIRST QUARTER

We are now underway!

The first quarter starts out with fast pace, and Palm Bay appears to have a slight height advantage, at least with the starting lineups.

Palm Bay is starting to show dominance in the paint, and takes a 15-8 lead with 1:34 left in the first quarter.

Palm Bay finishes the first quarter holding a 21-12 lead. 

SECOND QUARTER

Palm Bay dominated on the glass in the first quarter, out-rebounding Booker 10-5. Palm Bay shot 9-of-19 from the field but was only 1-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc.

Palm  Bay was led by Carleyssia Wallace with six points in the first quarter while Erynn Moffett tossed in four.

Booker got five points from Jsiyah Taylor and four points from Yvette Brown.

Palm Bay takes a 20-point lead, 32-12, with 5:17 remaining in the second quarter. Booker needs to turn the momentum around or this semifinal could be over early.

The Palm Bay lead is now 30 with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter, 47-17.

That’s the end of the first half with Palm Bay holding a commanding 55-21 lead.

Erynn Moffett led Palm Bay with 12 points at the half. Jaida Civil added 11.

Booker was led by Jsiyah Taylor with 14 points.

THIRD QUARTER

Palm Bay now leads 62-27 with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter. The 34-point lead looks pretty safe right now.

FOURTH QUARTER

Unless there is a drastic change, Palm Bay will head to the Class 4A state title game to face Plantation American Heritage Thursday at 5 p.m.

American Heritage advanced after toppling Tallahassee Rikards 71-48 in an earlier semi.

Through three quarters of play, Palm Bay has three players in double figures. Moffett and Civil have 13 apiece and Wallace has 10.

Right now, Booker guard Jsiyah Taylor leads all scorers with 18 points.

FINAL: Palm Bay 70, Booker 39

Published
Bill Kemp
BILL KEMP

Bill Kemp is an award-winning sports journalist at the state and national levels. Over the course of 25 years, he’s covered more than 4,000 sporting events including the NFL regular season, playoffs and Super Bowls, Major League Baseball regular season and spring training, NASCAR racing at Daytona and Talladega International Speedways and major college football regular seasons and bowl games. He was named by the Associated Press Sports Editors as a Top 10 sports columnist and Top 3 by the Alabama Press Association for best sports column and sports page design. He has served as preps editor at the Lakeland Ledger as well as sports editor at five different newspapers in Florida and Alabama. He has been published in dozens of newspapers including USA Today, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, the Jacksonville Times Union and the Tampa Bay Times. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida. He has been writing for SBLive Sports since 2022.

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