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.