Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational 2024: Plenty to See!
Montverde Academy won the SHE GOT GAME bracket in Tampa.
Players, Team Reviews + Hoops Review Super 7
January 3, 2025
In its ninth year, the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational was once again held at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex in Wesley Chapel (just north of Tampa), Florida. The event ran from December 27 through 30 with Sunday off. All told, 109 girls’ teams and 31 boys’ teams participated in the event run by ENGSports with Florida’s Sports Coast the presenting sponsor. A total of 44 colleges (mostly NCAA Division 1) attended one or more days of the event. In this article, results and all-tournament teams of the three top divisions will be listed along with our Hoops Review Super Seven from those three brackets and some comments about teams present.
The She Got Game Bracket was won by Montverde Academy (FL) 62-45 over Miami Country Day (FL). Long Island Lutheran (NY) of Brookville, New York, exercised an opt out (agreement made with a tournament official in September) of a final versus Montverde which it will play in about another month. Instead, they beat a solid Palm Bay High School of Melbourne, Florida 72-61 in a cross-bracket game, thus also finishing undefeated.
She Got Game Bracket All-tournament Team
Taylor Brown, 5-7, point guard, 2027, Long Island Lutheran High School (NY)
Aaliyah Crump, 6-1, small forward, 2025, Montverde Academy (FL)
Grace Galbavy, 5-11, small forward, 2025, Perkiomen Valley High School (PA)
Saniyah Hall, 6-1, guard/forward, 2026, Montverde Academy (FL) Tournament MVP
Destiny Jackson, 5-6, point guard, 2025, Whitney Young High School (IL)
Jayda Porter, 6-3, center, 2026, Rock Bridge High School (MO)
Arianna Robinson, 5-2, point guard, 2028, Miami Country Day School (FL) Bracket MVP
Amy Terrian, 5-8, guard, 2025, Pewaukee High School (WI)
The ENG Sports Bracket was won Clovis West High School of Fresno, California 66-48 over Neumann-Goretti High School of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Clovis West of Fresno, CA.
ENG Sports Bracket All-tournament Team
Jaida Civil, 6-0, guard, 2025, Palm Bay High School (FL)
Carryn Easley, 5-4, point guard, 2025, Neumann-Goretti High School (PA)
Jasleen Green, 5-9, small forward, 2026, American Heritage Plantation (FL)
Madeline Mignery, 6-1, forward, 2027, Cardinal Mooney High School (FL)
Riley Stoker, 6-2, power forward, 2025, Somerset Prep (FL)
Alexis Swillis, 6-3, center, 2025, Clovis West High School (CA) Bracket MVP
Londyn Walker, 5-9, guard, 2025, Milton High School (GA)
Riley Walls, 5-9, small forward, 2025, Clovis West High School (CA)
UNLV signee Alexis Swillis of Clovis West HS.
The Siesta Key Bracket was won by Saint Mary’s High School of Manhasset, New York 67-63 over Grandview Preparatory School of Boca Raton, Florida.
St. Mary’s HS (NY)
Siesta Key Bracket All-tournament Team
Lena Giradi, 6-0, guard, 2025, Grandview Preparatory School (FL) Bracket MVP
Markeli Jones-Tynes, 5-10, guard, 2025, Westminster Academy (FL)
Sophia Mindermann, 5-10, guard, 2025, Folsom High School (CA)
Ryan Oldaker, 5-10, small forward, 2026, South Fayette High School (PA)
Olivia Olson, 5-10, guard, 2025, New Smyrna Beach High School (FL)
Destiny Robinson, 6-0, forward, 2026, Saint Mary’s of Manhasset (NY)
Kayla Solomon, 5-8, guard, 2026, Saint Mary’s of Manhasset (NY)
Hoops Review Super Seven
Taylor Brown
Brown was the most productive of a deep/talented LuHi (as it is known in New York) perimeter. She played a lot of point and scored primarily attacking the rim.
Jaida Civil
Signed with Tennessee, Civil is about as good as it gets athletically in the girls’ game. She was an unselfish passer also posting double digits points in all games, showing improved proficiency on the pull-up and three-ball.
Lena Giradi
Signed with Oklahoma State, Giradi led these three divisions with 101 points (capped off with 43 in the final). Most impressive is her improved range (six threes in final). If Florida has a senior only state-series Miss Basketball award, the two leaders as of now (early January) appear to be Jaida Civil and Lena Giradi.
Saniyah Hall of Montverde Academy (FL).
Saniyah Hall
Hall continues to shine having been the best performer at two major events (this and Insider Exposure Thanksgiving Classic) recently covered. She can score at all three levels and makes the right decision most of the time. ESPN HoopGurlz has her #1 in 2026 class and I would support that position!
Destiny Jackson
At this event, Jackson showed why many consider her the best senior in Illinois. The Illinois commit showed she can score at all three levels as well as initiate the offense.
Jayda Porter of Rock Bridge HS (MO).
Jayda Porter
In an era when more and more tall players want to gravitate toward the perimeter, Porter (the third of three sisters with the first two having played in D1 and a brother [Michael] in the NBA) is willing to battle in the lower paint. She showed well with double-digit scoring and strong rebounding in all the contests although her team did not win a game (losing a couple of close ones). Her off (left) hand finishing was particularly impressive.
Alexis Swillis
Signed with UNLV, Swillis was a dominant presence in the lower paint. Strong and mobile, she finished near the rim leading her team to the ENG Sports Bracket title.
Team comments
Montverde (FL) is the deepest team in the USA when it comes to elite talent with at least eight future major D1 players. Yet they have already lost (to Canadian Fort Eire that lost a few times just before that). As can be the case with very talented teams newly put together, the individuals tend to play on (their vast) talent some of the time and take plays off on defense. Hopefully, the team will grow out of this in the latter half of the season.
Long Island Lutheran (LuHi) (NY) was my pick as best team in the USA last year having lost by a single point twice at the buzzer but beat around 10 ranked teams. That included a win over consensus [except for ESPN] national champs Etiwanda (by 20 on a neutral court) which lost three times but won out in California’s Open Division. Last year was one of the rare times where a team (LuHI) had done so much that losing at the end (“bad optics” according to one Etiwanda supporter) did not matter. This year is shaping up to be more normal in that the team which is declared best in final polls will be one which wins out at the end of the season.
LuHi is very talented but young (last year heavy to seniors). The team is very guard oriented (maybe deepest in guard talent for this year and next). Its middle is tall, not exceptionally physical. On top of that, the team has a couple of major D1 players out (Savvy Swords and Sanai Green - perhaps for the year). To date, LuHi is undefeated with its best win over everybody’s [except ESPN] pre-season number 1 (as they won last year with most players back) Etiwanda, which has now lost four times. Three polls (Blue Star #2; SB Live #2; ESPN SCNext #4) have LuHi in the top four. MaxPreps has separated the non-state series schools (Montverde, IMG and LuHi for three) from its rankings as do its boys’ counterpart but as yet has not posted a ranking for this group of schools. I am very high on LuHi for the long term (into next year), but in watching them several times question whether they are top 5 good this year (certainly top 15). The schedule is not nearly as strong as last year, which may help mask any deficiencies.
An elite trio at LUHI: (L-R) Emily McDonald, Taylor Brown, and Olivia Jones.
Pewaukee (WI) showed well going 2-1. However, a possibly serious knee injury to Wisconsin 2026 commit Giselle Janowski left them going home less happy than results would otherwise have had. Michigan State twin signees Amy and Anna Terrian put on a show of intense play and perimeter shooting to bounce back after a loss to Montverde for a solid 66-36 win over Perkiomen Valley to finish up in the event. At full strength, Pewaukee is a top 25 team this year. Can others step up to overcome the above injury?
Perkiomen Valley of Pennsylvania went 1-2 coming close (four points) vs LuHi but losing badly to Pewaukee. The school (like so many public schools across the USA) has previously never allowed out-of-state travel to seek out quality opposition. Thus, in the last two years, this team got beaten out in the playoffs by Philadelphia Catholic schools that played much tougher competition. As a senior laden team with multiple D1’s, I would not be selling the stock now hoping they learn from the Tampa Bay trip.
Miami Country Day (FL) never shows shyness when it comes to competition and volunteered to face Montverde on day 3. They lost, but they competed well. The team is very young but also very small. One of the best in a down Florida state-series for this season, they may be best next year.
Pickerington Central (1-2) of Ohio and Whitney Young (2-1) of Illinois are two teams I must salute as both never avoid quality competition. Hopefully, Tampa will have helped them heading into the home stretch of this season.
Rock Bridge (MO) did not win a game hampered by the loss of one of their senior guards to a prior knee injury. Jayda Porter’s stock rose with her quality post play. At times, the guards struggled to get the ball to her.
Clovis West (CA) could have competed in the She Got Game (top) Bracket except for the presence of Montverde which CIF (State Federation) will not allow its schools to play. Clovis West has multiple future D1 players, experience, and elite coaching. California is so deep as to nationally rankable teams; they get lost in the pack to some even though they might be the best if located in many other states. The combination of defensive traps that they displayed in their semi-final win over Palm Bay (FL) (one of best in Florida state-series) was something to behold.
Neumann-Goretti (PA) went 2-1 in the ENG Sports Bracket. The team has multiple D1 players, but they are small guards. In the final, the team just could not match-up with the size of the Clovis West middle. My guess is they will do better than in recent years in its home-based Philadelphia Catholic League.
Palm Bay (FL) volunteered to take on LuHi the last day in a cross-bracket game and led 32-31 at half after which LuHi guard depth proved too much. With perhaps the best player (Jaida Civil) in Florida state series, Palm Bay may finally capture that elusive state title #1.
St. Mary’s (NY) won the Siesta Key Bracket showing they can combine above average athletes into a team-ball/play both ends concept. With brand names Long Island Lutheran and Christ the King relatively nearby, this program wrongly gets mostly overlooked outside the local area on Long Island.
Sycamore (Ohio) won the Belleair Beach Bracket while starting four freshmen. The final over Gateway (FL) was its closest at a 27-point margin. The team came into Tampa 3-6 and were placed in a lower bracket. In checking on their losses, this Cincinnati school had been losing to some of the best teams in Ohio. The thinking in the gym was that Sycamore would be one of the best in Greater Tampa citing the weakness of the local area to Sycamore’s Cincinnati. If they return next year, the team needs to be placed in several brackets higher.