7 things you should know
1. King sophomore tennis standout Usoolisa Mba avenged her only singles loss of the season — as well as a second-place finish at districts in 2025 — by beating McKeel Academy junior Briley Davis at No. 1 singles in the Class 2A, District 8 tennis tournament at Hillsborough Community College.
While the win wasn’t enough to vault King to the team title, her victory and singles district title earns her a spot in the FHSAA’s individual state championships next week in Altamonte Springs.
Mba (10-1 this season and rated as a 2-star recruit) trailed 5-3 when she could not finish an earlier match this season against Davis.
2. But Mba isn’t going alone. Doubles partner Addy Elzy also qualified to play in the doubles championships next week, teaming up with Mba to win at districts and also avenging an earlier loss this season to Davis and Ciara Smith.
3. The King High boys basketball team may have just missed the playoffs this season, but their coach, players and one-season turnaround were not unnoticed.
Last week, coach Andre Lewis was awarded the William Bethel Award by the Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association, which typically goes to the coach who did the best job coaching and shaping the lives of players.
The award is named after former Middleton basketball, football and baseball coach William Bethel, who was 551-88 as the Tigers hoops coach and won at least six Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association (the FHSAA of all-black schools) state championships.
Not only did Lewis turn King around from a 6-21 team to a 18-9 district contender, but the Lions also won the Sportsmanship Award and were awarded the Team of the Year.
4. Freedom’s baseball team beat Leto 6-3 on April 15th, setting a new school record for wins in a season with 18. The Patriots are hoping to add to that mark as the playoffs kick off next week.
5. Fabulous freshman Fallon Fields finishes flag football fantastically.
Yes, that’s a lot of alliteration, but save your applause for Fields, who completed her first regular season at Wharton with 51 catches for 890 yards (17.5 yards a catch) and 12 touchdowns.
6. Freedom’s flag football team continues to roll, winning four straight games heading into the playoffs. The program is an all-time best 10-2, and earned the first seed in the 2A-10 district playoffs.
7. We would be remiss if we did not mention that Freedom’s softball team is playing Tampa Bay Tech this week, in a rematch of maybe the craziest softball game of the season — a 34-26 Titan win in eight innings.