Girls high school basketball: Paced by Zion McRae, P.K. Yonge tops Master's Academy, 57-45

P.K. Young advanced to its first regional final in four years, defeating Master's Academy 57-45 Tuesday night.

Master’s (20-7) entered the game looking to extend its seven-game win streak, while P.K. Yonge (16-3), led by leading district scorer Zion McRae, had other plans. McRae would end the night with over half of her team’s points.

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P.K. Yonge will face Providence School on Friday in the regional finals, with the winner moving on to the state semifinals in Lakeland.

Here are the takeaways from the game.

Eagles lean on deep threat

Watching Master’s Academy warm up, one thing was evident: the Eagles did their damage from deep. Following the trend that has swept college and professional leagues alike, the Eagles’ offense relied heavily on their success from behind the arc.

Despite ending a slow first quarter down nine, Master’s showed everyone the power of the three-point shot after drilling four of them in the second, three of which came from eighth-grader Brooklyn O’Gallagher. She ended the night with a team-high 16 points. As a result of O’Gallagher’s efforts, P.K. Yonge went into the half with just a four-point lead.

Following another slew of Eagles three pointers in the third quarter, the Blue Wave were forced to adjust; They switched from a zone to a man-defense, which largely stifled Master’s efforts.

“We knew it’s a game of runs," Blue Wave coach Willie Powers said. "This group has been with me a while and we talk about runs, and, you know, whether we can weather the storm. We went to man, and I thought we did a great job of manning up on the switch.”

As a result, the Eagles had trouble getting points on the board in the fourth quarter, allowing the Blue Wave to pull away late in the game.

Blue Wave’s backcourt flourishes under pressure

All season long, sophomore Zion McRae and freshman Ashlyn Young have given opposing teams issues, averaging a combined 36 points per game during the regular season.

“(Zion and Ashlyn) are very unselfish girls, and they like each other,” said Powers. “They don’t care about the accolades, they just care about P.K. Yonge having more points at the end.”

This partnership is evident in their interactions off the court as well as their play on it, and Tuesday night was no different, with the duo combining for 45 of the team’s 57 points. The backcourt played from tip-off to the final whistle, and dictated the pace the whole way. Young served as the Blue Wave’s floor general, running their plays and creating shots with her skills.

But when McRae began heating up in the third quarter, Young recognized what was happening and retreated into a more supportive role, allowing McRae to cook.

McRae went on to score 12 points in the third and 30 on the night, shooting an efficient 53% from the field. Young added 15 more of her own to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds.

Discipline and aggression decide the game late

At this stage in the state tournament, every team has skill; these games are oftentimes a simple question of which team wants it more. In the final minutes of the game, the Blue Wave’s determination shone through.

“Overall, I just thought we played tough,” said Powers. “We had great rebounding by Da’mar Wims at the end, walling up and playing big, just playing tough defense. Everybody has done their role, and it has made us very good this year.”

What is arguably most impressive about this show of grit from the Blue Wave girls is their youth.

With just one senior touching the floor, the team is primarily composed of sophomores and juniors. Powers emphasized how his standards have created a culture of hard work.

“They’ve been with me for a while and they know I expect mental toughness as well as physical toughness," he said. "In this game, if you aren’t mentally tough, those runs would’ve buried us, and they didn’t. We just took it and kept going. I just have a way of getting mentally tough young ladies to play for me, and the ones that aren’t mentally tough usually don’t come here.”

Fierce perimeter defense and strong rebounding allowed P.K. Yonge to pull away in the final minutes of the game. After a series of fouls by the Eagles, the Blue Wave found themselves with a 12-point lead when the final buzzer sounded.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Girls basketball: P.K. Yonge tops Master's Academy to make region final