Palm Beach Lakes rides stout defense, Zaida Gonzalez to regional semi matchup with Jupiter

Reliable scorers can be the difference between a basketball team making a long postseason run or going home early.  

On Thursday night, Palm Beach Lakes senior and FIU signee Zaida Gonzalez carried her team with 23 points to help the Rams pull away in the second half to knock off Centennial 53-37 in a 3-7A regional quarterfinal in Port St. Lucie. 

After being upset at the hands of a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Jupiter in the District 10-7A championship game last week to force their playoff journey to begin on the road, the Rams (10-1) were challenged by an aggressive Centennial defense in the first quarter. 

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Both teams struggled to find their rhythm offensively as the quarter ended tied at 12 and the second quarter didn’t see either team create much separation as the Rams held a 21-17 advantage at halftime. 

Palm Beach Lakes turned up its defensive intensity another notch to begin the third quarter as they turned over Centennial multiple times in the first four minutes and got out in transition. Using a 20-5 spurt, the Rams led by as much as 19 in the third quarter with Gonzalez scoring nine points in the stanza to push their lead out to 42-27. 

The Eagles (9-4) wouldn’t threaten in the fourth quarter, as it was a struggle the entire night for Centennial’s offense to generate points. Junior Kennedy Cannon scored 16 points, but left many more on the table as the 6-foot-3 center had trouble finishing at the rim all evening. Mya Heath added eight points for the Eagles, who only hit two 3-pointers and converted just 9-for-19 at the foul line. 

Palm Beach Lakes picked up nine points from Deborrah Seitu-Redmon, as the Rams will get another crack at Jupiter next Tuesday in the regional semifinal after the Warriors needed overtime to beat Vero Beach 48-41 in their quarterfinal.