ORANGE PARK - Back to back 21 point quarters, a 100th three-pointer and an 8-0 the first quarter against an unbeaten highlighted a marquis Thursday night in girl's basketball with the blowout spirit prevailing amongst the rainy, windy outside weather.

In the St. Johns Country Day School Brown Gym, senior guard Mary Kate Kent shredded the nets with 25 points with four threes. In comparison, eighth grader Kendall Proffitt upped the challenge with six threes on her 22 points as the Lady Spartans knocked out Middleburg 69-41 behind two consecutive 21-point quarters to the halftime break.
"Mary Kate Kent has been a great leader on the floor and our approach is to share the ball," said St. Johns coach Tyler Miller, now 8-1 overall. "The big boost to the offense has been the improvement of sophomore Sophia Mejias."
Mejias, the off-side guard in the Spartan's approach, has been one of the reasons for the Kent/Proffitt power punch, as she has up ticked her shooting with a 19-point night Thursday with five threes.
"The other coaches know we are going to shoot threes," said Miller. "We don't have great size underneath though Ashanti Williams (14 rebounds) has done a great job to start our fast break."
St. Johns travels to Charleston, SC, for tournament play Dec. 28-30 with games against Porter-Gaud (SC,5-4), Academic Magnet (SC, 4-6) and Barbourville (KY, 3-4).
Just six miles away, at Orange Park High School, senior guard Hailey Revak netted her 100th career three-pointer for the Raiders as the Lady Raiders improved to 8-1 overall with a 48-38 win over Nease and Hall of Fame coach Sherri Anthony in a key district 3-6A win for Orange Park coach Michael Nesmith. Revak, having her best season stat-wise in her four-year career, has been averaging 12 points per game with 16 three-pointers thus far on pace to reach her 32 total from last season; 19 each in her freshman and sophomore seasons.
On Friday, though, Orange Park's one loss season became two; 8-2, with an 87-61 loss to 8-1 Bolles.
Orange Park will travel Dec. 28-30 to Charleston, SC, for tournament play against James F. Byrnes High (Duncan, SC, 6-2, 5A), First Baptist School (Charleston, SC, 8-2, 4A) and Carroll County High (Hillsville, VA, 4-0, Ranked No. 3 in Virginia; 25-1 2022 and 27-1 2023 state champions, ranked No. 2 in Virginia both seasons).
Another six miles away, Ridgeview blitzed the previously unbeaten University Christian Lady Christians with a wicked 8-0 first quarter behind drives by Nia and Nacoya Blocton to win a 49-36 non-district contest. Nia Blocton scored 17 on the night with sister Nacoya at 14 points as the Lady Panthers uptick their attack energy with full-court pressure for most of the game. Nia Blocton led the team with 10 rebounds on the night with Nacoya getting three assists and a steal. Third Blocton Narissa, the sophomore, had three Ridgeview and now has a four-game win streak after three losses in a row to Providence, Ponte Vedra and Bishop Kenny. The four wins came against St. Augustine, Fleming Island, Mandarin and University Christian with 7A-Creekside (4-4) and 7A-Mandarin (6-2) to finish the first half of the season before a tournament trip Dec. 22-23. Two of Creekside's losses are also to Ponte Vedra and Providence.