Grayson beat IMG Academy 73-56 in January at the John Wall Invitational. The Long Island Lutheran-Montverde contest is a rematch of last year's final in which the Eagles outlasted the Crusaders 60-54 on their way to their second straight event title and national championship.
The semifinal games will be aired on ESPNU at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ET. The winners will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday for the title.
No. 5 IMG Academy 74, Grace Christian 68
The Ascenders weathered a 31-point effort from top-ranked Class of 2024 prospect
Sarah Strong, using a 10-3 burst in the third period with Strong on the bench with an injury.
The uncommitted standout poured in 21 in the first half as the Crusaders built leads of 18-9 and 31-18 in the first half before IMG (24-3) finished the second quarter on a 9-2 run with seven of the nine coming from
Tajianna Roberts. The Louisville commit finished with a team-high 24.
Miami commit
Leah Harmon added 18 for the Ascenders on 5 of 8 shooting and 7 of 8 from the free throw line. UConn commit
Kelis Fisher was the other IMG player in double figures with 13.
Strong dominated the first half of action with 21 of the Crusaders' 39 points in the first 16 minutes. She hit three 3-pointers while also scoring in the paint and from the mid-range. But she appeared to tweak her knee and had to be taken to the locker room for a stretch in the third period.
During that time, IMG Academy, which had just taken a 46-44 lead on Roberts' bucket, stretched the advantage to 57-52 after three quarters on the strength of a 10-3 run.
Strong returned with just over 6:30 to play but Grace Christian wasn't able to chip away at the IMG lead. Strong finished with 19 rebounds.
Louisville commit Tajianna Roberts led No. 4 IMG Academy past Grace Christian 74-68 in the first quarterfinal game of Chipotle Nationals on Thursday. Roberts had 24 points for the Ascenders in the win. (File photo: Darin Sicurello)
The reigning event champions got 19 points from Ohio State commit
Jaloni Cambridge and 16 from USC pledge
Vivian Iwuchukwu to turn a six-point halftime deficit into a runaway victory.
And while the stars were out for Montverde, it was 6-foot freshman
Finley Chastain, a Tennessee commit, who really broke the game open over the third and fourth quarters with a barrage of 3-pointers.
The Quakers took a 30-24 lead into intermission on the strength of a 15-9 second period in which UCLA commit
Kendall Dudley scored eight of her team-high 22 points.
But Montverde quickly cut the edge at the start of the second half as Cambridge, Iwuchukwu,
Eris Lester and
Lourdes Da Silva Costa outscored Sidwell 16-4 over the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Then an onslaught of 3-pointers from the Eagles blew the game wide open.
Chloe Sotell started with a triple from the wing for a 43-35 Montverde lead before Chastain hit on 4 of 5 3-pointers straddling the third and fourth quarters. Her final shot from distance opened the final period and gave the Eagles a 57-42 edge.
Sidwell went 3 of 12 from the field in the final quarter trying to shoot itself back in the game.
In addition to Dudley's 22 points, sophomore
Jordyn Jackson was the other Quaker in double figures with 11 points.
