OAKLEAF - Led by three scorers over 20 points; 24 to Fantasia James, 21 to Kaylah Turner and 20 to Trista Brown, the Oakleaf High girls basketball team stormed the gates of Pace High’s defense with a 16-6 rapid fire offense in the first four minutes of play; 60-23 after three quarters, to dominate a 67-36 region 1-6A quarterfinal win to advance to the region semifinals.

“I told them to go out fast from the start and see if they could keep up,” said Oakleaf coach Fred Cole. “They did and they couldn’t keep up. That was probably the best first half we’ve played all season.”

With James swishing home three three-pointers to underscore the intent of fast play, Oakleaf never let up on the accelerator with Turner stealing and dealing from the halfcourt line and James showing off her smooth tall jumper from wherever. Brown was instrumental in bridging the gap of transition from J’Nease Bender and Mighty Mite Armaany Mullins, just 5’3” under the backboard.

“Of course, we practice a slow game because we know from experience that the further you get in the playoffs, the slower the games goes,” said Cole. “Crestview, who beat Ponte Vedra (45-33) with a big power forward, has a big front line and they play a slower game. We saw film on Pace and knew we could run on them.”

Top seeded Oakleaf (24-2, No. 3 in 6A) will host fourth seed Crestview (21-7, No. 11 in 6A) on Tues., Feb. 14. In the other semifinal, seventh seed Land O’Lakes (19-4, No. 17 in 6A, beat No. 2 Nease 65-54 to advance) will host third seed Gainesville (15-7, No. 10 in 6A).

In the other two regions; Charlotte (19-6, No. 2 in 6A) is top seed in region 3 while Blanche Ely (21-3, No. 1 in 6A) is top ranked in region 4.

Class 6A defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas is the second seed in region 4-6A and faces Dillard and, with a win, takes on Blanche Ely in the region final. The two schools split in regular season play.

St. Thomas beat Dillard in their district final two weeks ago.