Spartans roll St. Joseph's (Again)
On to region finals: Fri., Feb. 3 vs. First Academy of Orlando

ORANGE PARK - An Alisa Detlefsen high-fly, bend left corner kick opened the scoring for the St. Johns Country Day School girls soccer team en route to a 6-0 win over St. Joseph's Academy in the region 1-1A semifinals played Tuesday at St. Johns Country Day School.
St. Johns (22-0-0) advances to the Fri., Feb. 3 region 1-1A championship game against First Academy of Orlando (15-2-1), a 5-2 winner in their region semifinal over Master's Academy of Oviedo (13-4-2).
Detlefsen deft kick just two minutes after the opening kickoff whistle preceded two quick first half goals by the Spartans; one, at the 33 minute mark, a whisked back of the head header from Kamy Loustau off a 35 yard throw-in from Payton Waldon, the third, at 21:44, was a wicked laser shot from Payton Crews that started with a long service pass from Detlefsen that traveled near 25 yards across the front of the St. Joseph's goal mouth before finding Crews. Crews did some fancy footwork around the Flashes' defender before serving up a cannon shot that hit the back of the net at Mach 1 speed.
From there, St. Joseph's was determined to not let the game get out of hand and started pushing into the Spartans end of the field with goalie Cassidy Wasdin getting two touches off Flash shot attempts. Wasdin's defensive front line, with Kena Herrera and Paige Crews outwitting St. Joseph offensive threats, thwarted one corner kick attempt.
St. Johns final three goals came from Crews with an assist from Abbey Newton, Loustau unassisted and Detlefsen off a Pavlisko assist.

Fleming Island survives Oakleaf comeback thrust

FLEMING ISLAND - Key free throws from Aubrey Burke kept the Fleming Island High girls basketball team from succumbing to a scrappy fourth quarter frenzy by visiting Oakleaf High in the district 4-8A 50-43 win by the Golden Eagles.
Fleming Island advances to face Creekside, a 51-47 winner over Bartram Trail, in Friday's championship game. On Monday, Oakleaf beat Buchholz 56-44 to advance to the semifinal.
Burke, with a team high 11 points, sunk four free throws in the final 1:16 of playing time to stretch a 44-40 Fleming Island lead to 48-40 before Reyna Durden hit a layup for the final two points.
Oakleaf, led by guard Mar'ria Davis' 16 points and Andrea Merced's 12 points, fought back from a 30-19 halftime deficit with unrelenting rebound on both ends from Jalisa Lee and Merced took small chunks out of the Golden Eagles' lead despite a slow-down offensive scheme employed by Fleming Island coach Joey Williams.
Down by just six, 41-35, as the fourth quarter started, Oakleaf got as close as 42-40 behind a Davis layup and two free throws before Fleming Island guard Tia Robinson nailed two free throws.

Lady Broncos roll in district semifinal
Championship: Thursday vs. Nease

By Ray DiMonda, Correspondent

MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg High's girls basketball team was taking peeks out of their locker room as game one of the district 3-7A championship tournament revealed that Nease High would once again be a key opponent for the Lady Broncos, who had two losses and one win against the Lady Panthers in regular season play.
For the Broncos, Englewood High would be the obstacle to getting to the district championship game and, not wasting time contemplating how bad they wanted another shot at Nease, senior point guard Hannah Roney pushed her Lady Broncos to a 13-0 early game lead, a 27-2 first quarter lead, a 53-18 halftime lead and a final 73-26 score.
Bring on Nease, a 64-21 winner of St. Augustine in the first semifinal, in the Thursday championship game in front of the Bronco Nation.
"We wanted to come out tonight focused on really setting the stage for Thursday’s game while they (Nease) were still in here letting them know, we’re ready,” said Middleburg High coach Michael Hayward. “I think the girls are really working together as a team. Understanding one another, knowing where they are supposed to be at, trapping, moving the ball."