ORANGE PARK - Three scorers in double figures; Nacoya Blocton with 21, Emma Rayes with 17 and Narisa Blocton with 12, fueled a balanced scoring schematic from coach Gussie Solomon to give the Lady Panthers a 58-48 region quarterfinal win over Choctowhatchee High Thursday at Ridgeview High School.
"We have more and more included the entire five to seven players that are in and out on the court to keep our opponents guessing," said Solomon. "We had a lot of great games from a lot of players with Emma Rayes, Bella Brown and Taniya Booker, I think, maturing into great teammates."
In the Orange Park vs. Beachside region quarterfinal in St. Johns County, the Lady Raiders had slim leads throughout the game, but fell 53-46 to end their season and avoid a third championship game against Ridgeview. Ridgeview beat Orange Park in the Clay County Cup championship game with Orange Park beating the Panthers for the District 3-5A championship game.
Into the region next week for the region semifinal on Tuesday, February 18, Ridgeview will travel to Pensacola's Booker T. Washington High, the top region seed, who beat Ponte Vedra 55-20 to advance. Beachside advances to play Gainesville, a 66-28 winner over Lincoln.
In the first half for the Panthers, both teams were flexing muscle on the floor with handfuls of turnovers, Choctowhatchee ended the half with a three point buzzer to break a 22-22 tie and go into the lockers up 25-22.
"That buzzer shot hurt us and we went into the locker room looking to regroup and get our game together," said Rayes. "The seniors on the team got kind of a wake up call and got us back in the game in the third."
Rayes responded with a series of driving layups; two that landed, that got aided with five free throws that pushed the Panthers to a 43-32 third quarter lead.
In the fourth, it was senior Nacoya Blocton banging home a three pointer plus a handful of free throws; five in a row, to the final score.