Jaloni Cambridge scored a game-high 33 points with the final two coming just before the buzzer to lift the Montverde Academy girls' basketball team to a thrilling 79-78 win!
The Eagles beat top seeded Long Island Luthern in the semifinal round of the 2024 Chipotle High School Nationals in Brownsburg, Indiana to advance to the national championship game for the third year in a row..
The Eagles will play in state rival IMG Academy with MVA's third straight national championship on the line.
Cambridge took the inbound pass from near half court and raced to the basket, throwing up the shot from the left side of the basket for the game winner.
The win by the Eagles was the exclamation point on a ferocious comeback throughout the second half.
In a rematch of last season's championship game, the stream of the game was also a carbon copy of MVA's win last season.
The top seeded Crusaders led 18-17 after one. And Long Island Luthern used a 25-13 second quarter surge to pull ahead by double digits and make the score 43-30 in their favor at halftime.
Long Island Luthern maintained a comfortable lead through most of the third quarter. But the Eagles cut into the deficit in the latter stages of the third quarter to get to within single digits of the lead, and the Eagles were down nine, 62-53, after twenty-four minutes of play.
MVA continued its late third quarter momentum into the fourth, as the Eagles continued to edge closer in the opening stages of the final period.
After not holding a lead since the first quarter, the Eagles rallied all the way back to take the lead with a corner 3-point field goal by Finley Chastain with 4:10 to go to make the score 71-70 in favor of MVA.
From the moment forward, both teams traded leads.
The Crusaders went back on top 72-71 with 3:15 to go, before Cambridge connected on a pair of foul shots with 2:19 to go to make the score 73-72.
Long Island Luthern took another lead with under two minutes to go, before a backdoor pass by Cambridge to a cutting Vivian Iwuchukwu with 1:16 to go put the Eagles back in front 75-74.
But with 31.8 seconds remaining, a Long Island Luthern fastbreak lay-up off an MVA turnover put the Crusaders back up 76-75.
Cambridge countered with a lay-up with just over 15 seconds left to put MVA back up, 77-76.
On Long Island Lutheran's ensuing possession, a three shot foul by MVA put the Crusaders at the line for three free throws with 6.6 seconds, and Long Island Luthern connected on 2 of 3 to go back up 78-77.
After a non shooting foul with 3.9 seconds to go, Cambridge connected on the final possession to send the Eagles to their third straight national championship game.
Cambridge's 33 was behind a 14-for-21 shooting effort from the field, and she had a game-high 11 assists. Chloe Sotell had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Iwuchukwu added 11. Chastain also scored 11 points behind perfect shooting, going 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
As a unit, the Eagles shot a blistering 57 percent from the field (30-for-53) and 40 percent from 3-point range (8-for-20).
The win by the Eagles marks the second year in a row MVA girls' basketball defeated Long Island Luthern in the postseason. The win also avenges a 73-55 loss to the Crusaders in their regular season meeting on February 16.
The championship game against IMG Academy is scheduled for 10:00 am, and the game will be televised live on ESPN.
