High school girls basketball: No. 1 Montverde Academy uses second-half burst to down No. 2 Long Island Lutheran 60-54 for GEICO Nationals title

No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) erased a 14-point halftime deficit on its way to a 60-54 win over No. 2 Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) on Saturday in the finals of the GEICO National in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Eagles, who likely will finish the season atop the MaxPreps Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings, outscored the Crusaders 40-20 in the second half and 19-6 in the final period. South Carolina commit Sahnya Jah led the way with 15 of her game-high 20 in the second half and Illinois commit Cori Allen added 13 of her 15 over the final 16 minutes.

Long Island Lutheran opened the game hitting from inside and out. Kayleigh Heckel led the way with eight in the first quarter as Savannah Swords added seven and Syla Swords and Lauryn Swann each hit a trey as the Crusaders opened a 21-12 edge after eight minutes.

After burning the nets with 5 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc in the opening period, Long Island Lutheran was 0 for 11 over the final three periods from range.

The New York Class AA state champs, however, continued their torrid pace in the second period, building a 30-16 lead at one point before carrying a 34-20 edge into intermission.

But Montverde kept grinding. The Eagles opened up the third with a pair of 3-pointers from Allen and eight points from Jah as they trimmed Long Island Lutheran's lead to 48-41 heading into the final frame.

Montverde Academy, which beat Long Island Lutheran 67-60 on Jan. 20, got within four to open the fourth on Rusne Augustinaite's third trey of the game before Jah muscled in the paint to cut the lead to 48-46 with more than seven minutes to play. They pulled even at the 5:10 mark on a Jah bucket in the paint and took the outright lead on Allen's jumped a few possessions later.

Heckel, who finished with 15, knotted it up after cleaning up her own miss, but Allen's 3-pointer from the left wing gave Montverde a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

After a pair of Heckel free throws, Long Island Lutheran had the ball with less than a minute to play, but couldn't convert on four shots on one possession as Montverde finally corralled a rebound and Jah capped the title with an and-one for the final margin.

Freshman Savannah Swords was the only Long Island Lutheran player besides Heckel in double figures with 12.