High school girls basketball: No. 1 Montverde Academy, No. 2 Long Island Lutheran win GEICO Nationals openers to set up MaxPreps Top 25 showdown

Eagles need late push to beat youthful Westtown squad 58-51 while Crusaders get 38 from Kate Koval in 76-65 win over McDonogh.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Aaron Williams
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Mar 31, 2023, 11:15am
The top two teams in the MaxPreps Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings held serve Friday in semifinal action at the GEICO Nationals to set up a championship match with No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) and No. 2 Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.).

In the opener, Kate Koval set a GEICO Nationals scoring record — boys or girls — with 38 points, while adding 16 rebounds as Long Island Lutheran beat a short-handed McDonogh (Owings Mills, Md.) squad 76-65. The second game saw Montverde Academy hang on late for a 58-51 win over a scrappy and youthful Westtown (West Chester, Pa.) team behind 16 from Cori Allen.

Koval provided all the firepower for Long Island Lutheran in the opening half, scoring 18 and grabbing nine rebounds as McDonogh was without Kennedy Umeh, a 6-4 center at a USA Basketball event. She backed that up with a 20-point effort in the second half as the Crusaders used flurries of defensive activity to close both the second and third quarters to create separation from a never-say-quit McDonogh team with only seven players traveling to Florida.
No. 2 Long Island Lutheran's Kate Koval scored a GEICO Nationals record 38 points in the Crusaders' 76-65 win over McDonogh on Friday. LuHi meets No. 1 Montverde Academy on Saturday in the finals after the Eagles beat Westtown 58-51. (Photo: Darin Sicurello)
No. 2 Long Island Lutheran's Kate Koval scored a GEICO Nationals record 38 points in the Crusaders' 76-65 win over McDonogh on Friday. LuHi meets No. 1 Montverde Academy on Saturday in the finals after the Eagles beat Westtown 58-51. (Photo: Darin Sicurello)
For Long Island Lutheran, Syla Swords scored 13, Kayleigh Heckel had eight and Savannah Swords and Shy Hawkins each added seven.

McDonogh had a trio in double-figures as Maryland commit Ava McKennie led the way with 17 while Paris Locke and freshman Autumn Fleary each poured in 16.


The No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Top 25 needed some clutch buckets late as the Moose clawed back from 10 points down behind eighth-graders Jordyn Palmer and Jessie Moses and senior Grace Sundback.

But the Eagles, with six Division I commits, had enough to weather the storm as Sahnya Jah had 14 and Mjracle Sheppard contributed 13 in the win along with Allen's 16.

Montverde Academy led 50-40 at the start of the fourth quarter but back-to-back 3-pointers from Palmer and Moses trimmed the lead to four before Sundback's bucket cut the edge to 50-48. Up 51-49 with 4:43 left, Jah hit a pair of free throws and Sheppard a field goal to bump the lead to six before Palmer fouled out with just under three to play.

Allen then iced the game with an and-one with 90 seconds left and the Eagles advanced to play Long Island Lutheran at 10 a.m. ET Saturday in the final.

Palmer finished with 16, Sundback with 15 and Moses added 10 along with Savannah Curry.

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