Women's basketball team's run at FCSAA Championship ends in semifinals

The Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team's run at the FCSAA Championships came to an end on Friday night.

The No. 8 seed Titans lost to No. 4 seed Gulf Coast State College 83-61 in the second semifinal in Niceville.

Eastern Florida State College once again came out strong as Angela Mirkovic opened the scoring with a 3-pointer. The Titans would lead by as many as nine in the quarter as Bruna DaSilva had 10 points in the first quarter, making a couple of 3-pointers.

Gulf Coast State College came out in the second quarter on a 7-2 run but Mirkovic hit some big shots to keep the Titans in the lead for most of the quarter.

The Commodores took their first lead on a couple of free throws with under three minutes left. Gulf Coast State College hit a couple of 3-pointers and went on an 8-0 run and went into halftime with a 36-33 lead.

The Titans came out of the locker room cold as the Commodores went on a huge 15-0 run and jumped out to a 51-33 lead. Ofir Parpara hit a 3-pointer to end the run but the damage was done as the Titans fought until the final buzzer but could not hit enough shots to get back into the game.

Shadia Lara Santa Cruz scored 12 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter while DaSilva finished with 16 points, Mirkovic had 15 and Parpara had 10 points in the game.

"This team will forever hold a special place in my heart, my first team ever," Eastern Florida State College women's basketball coach Zack Banks said. "They grew as the season went on and I couldn't be any more proud of them. They played for the name on the front of their jersey and that's what I am most proud about! They represented EFSC the right way."

Eastern Florida State College reached the semifinal for the fifth straight season with a victory over No. 1 seed Northwest Florida State College. It was the third straight season their season ended in the semifinals.