CF (18-13) advances to play Pensacola in a state semifinal Friday at 2 p.m. EST at Chipola.
Watch the Panhandle Broadcasting webcast of the game.
The Lady Patriots played one of their finest stretches of basketball to open the game. They scored on their first four possessions and deployed an effective zone defense to open the game on an 11-2 run, prompting an early Indian River timeout. The Lady Patriots made that advantage last the balance of the first half, leading 33-24 at the break.
The second half was a different story. CF's efficient first-half offense bogged down, allowing Indian River to methodically close the gap and finally pull ahead with 7 minutes to play. At that point, CF had scored just 5 second-half points.
Still, CF made a series of timely plays down the stretch to earn the victory. Quinnecia Twine drew a foul on a baseline drive and knocked down both ends of a one-and-one to put the Lady Patriots back on top 45-44 with 2:16 to play. Briana Gibson stepped in front of a driving Lady Pioneer on the other end, drawing a charge and returning possession to CF. Janay Borum drew fouls on the Lady Patriots' next two trips, connecting on two of the resulting free throws to give CF a 47-44 lead with 23.7 seconds to play.
Indian River missed a corner three-pointer against a swarming CF defense, and Twine dropped in a breakaway layup in the final seconds to provide the final margin.
Borum produced 11 points, 5 rebounds and 6 points for the Lady Patriots, while Twine added 12 points and 9 rebounds and Gibson had 8 points and 5 rebounds.
The win keeps alive a CF women's basketball season that saw the Lady Patriots force their way into the state tournament with a string of close late-season wins. CF won three of its last four Mid-Florida Conference games, earning the victories by a combined total of 4 points, to hold off Hillsborough for the conference's third and final state tournament berth.
