Riverside girls too much for AC Flora in its first championship game
The best season in AC Flora’s girls basketball history did not have a storybook ending.
The Falcons ran into a dominant Riverside team and came out on the short end of a 62-32 defeat Saturday night in the Class 4A state championship. It was the first state championship appearance for AC Flora.
“I’ve told them from the beginning that they’re special, and I mean that,” AC Flora coach Jacob Thompson said. “Tonight didn’t turn out like we wanted…but how much I love and respect that group of girls in there, I can’t put into words. They’re going to do great things.”
A poor shooting night and getting continuously beat on the offensive glass proved to be the difference. The shooting woes really showed up in the second half when the Warriors outscored the Falcons 31-10. AC Flora missed its first 14 shots of the second half and finished the final 16 minutes going 3-of-23 from the floor. They made five field goals in the last three quarters after making five in the first quarter.
Rebounding also played a factor. Riverside built a 31-22 lead at the half on the strength of its offensive rebounding. The Warriors outrebounded the Falcons 14-5 on offensive rebounds and that led to a 12-1 advantage on second chance points.
The Warriors ended up with a 26-4 advantage in second chance points while pulling down 25 offensive rebounds.
“When we missed a couple, it got into their head,” Thompson said. “They do a great job getting to that shot. They know where their misses are going to be. At times, we got caught looking and out of position. They knew where their teammates were going to miss and tonight, we just couldn’t beat them to that spot.”
Riverside (21-8) used a balanced attack in winning its first girls basketball state championship. Elly Trickett led the way with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Sophomore all-state selection Kyndal Haroski finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals. Lylissa Pelzer was the third Warrior in double figures with 11 points.
“It’s such a surreal moment,” Riverside coach Bri Jones said. “We started building this program about five years ago. All the girls were crying on the sideline saying, ‘dreams really do come true coach.’ You have to trust the process and we’re just so grateful to be in this moment.”
Any chance AC Flora (23-8) had of erasing the halftime deficit evaporated quickly. Riverside scored the first 20 points of the third quarter to build the lead to 51-22 and cruised the rest of the way. The Falcons didn’t score a field goal until the final seconds of the quarter, when they were outscored 20-3.
“Our goals were to win the boards and I think we did that,” Jones said. “We really challenge our girls on that. We work on boxing out every single day. We’re undersized so we have to think smarter, not harder.”
Terriana Gray and Jazmine McDonald-Craft led AC Flora with six points each.
R: Elly Trickett 16, Kyndal Haroski 14, Aylissa Pelzer 11, Powell 9, Garrido 5, Johnson 3, Halt 2, Bache 2. ACF: Gray 6, McDonald-Craft 6, Delaney 5, Mickens 5, Mason 4, McCray 3, Curnell 2, Campbell 1.
This story was originally published March 2, 2024 at 9:36 PM.