Women's basketball team falls in quarterfinals of state tournament

Women's basketball team falls in quarterfinals of state tournament

The Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team battled Santa Fe right to the final buzzer, falling short 69-61 in the quarterfinal of the FCSAA/NJCAA Region VIII State Tournament in Ocala Wednesday night.

The Titans took an early 8-2 lead and led for most of the first half with an Angeni Worley 3-pointer giving the Titans a five-point lead with a minute left in the second quarter. The Titans would go to the locker room up 34-30.

Skye Williams hit two free throws early in the third quarter for a six-point lead but Santa Fe fought back with an 8-0 run to take the lead with 3:32 left in the third quarter. Williams and Jacquelyn Levay would keep the Titans close and a couple of free throws by Alana Pinder helped send the Titans to the fourth quarter with the lead.

But the fourth quarter belonged to Santa Fe, who built a seven-point lead with under five minutes remaining. The Titans made one last run behind Williams as the all-State guard scored six straight points to cut the lead back to one point with 2:30 remaining.

Santa Fe's Stephanie Jackson hit big shots in the final couple of minutes to send the Saints to the semifinals and end the Titans season.

Williams finished with a team-high 21 points while Levay had 18. Sierra Votaw finished with 10 rebounds and three blocks.

Jackson led all scorers with 24 points for the Mid-Florida Conference champions who will play Northwest Florida State College Friday afternoon in the semifinals.

The Titans finish the season 14-15 and have reached the state tournament four times in the past five seasons.