By REID TUCKER
It was a perfect setup for a bona fide classic when the Paxton Lady Cats took on the Ponce De Leon Lady Pirates in the Region 1 final.
The opposing squads, each a Class A state championship-winning program in the last four years, on the night of Feb. 13 were meeting for the fourth time this season. On the line was a trip to Lakeland for a spot in the 2015 Final Four (and, as it turns out, a semifinal game against another county team – Freeport, which got a huge upset win over Chipley). Most of all, the game had the intensity of a grudge match, as Paxton looked to redeem itself after its disintegration in the face of the Pirates’ un-crackable defense in the District 1-A championship game, which set in motion PDL’s hosting of the last game before the state tourney.
These facts weren’t lost on the legions of fans also turned out to see the contest, with the line stretching far into the parking lot hours before the game began, and the gym later filled to what must surely have been close to its maximum capacity.
After all this buildup, there was no doubt that Paxton and Ponce came out in force, with defense and top-down strategy reigning supreme. PDL took a four-point lead with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter, but a free-throw from Paxton’s Katie Sebastian and a 3-pointer (only the third basket made from that range by either team all night) from scoring leader Bethany Neale with 52 seconds remaining evened up the score. The game went down to the wire and past it into overtime, to the deafening roar of support from the crowds of supporters in attendance.
The Lady Cats made the most of OT, as Neale snatched a pass from Sebastian for a wide-open layup with 2:17 to go ahead 31-29. PDL’s Devyn Butarac scored her only three points of the game on a shot from the perimeter with 23 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough to keep Ponce in contention. Neale and the rest of her team went 7-for-8 at the stripe to get the 38-33 win and the right to defend their 2014 state championship.
“It was obvious that these were two teams wanting to win so badly,” said Paxton head coach Steve Williams. “Games like this show the resiliency of our girls, and I’m so proud of how they played tonight. It was no easy task to get back in the lead when we were down there at the end of the fourth.
“It’s a shame that the stakes are so high, but only one of these teams could go back to state. My hat’s off to coach (Tim) Alford and his team. They have the hearts of champions.”
Resiliency was called upon by both squads throughout the game, as neither one had the best of luck shooting from the floor, especially from anywhere other than right under the basket. Even at ranges that close the emphasis on defense and defensive rebounding was such that Paxton went 12-of-44 from the field while Ponce was right there at 10-for-43. That being said, the game never devolved into a foul-fest either, with the Lady Cats making good on 13-of-19 free throws on 10 trips to the foul line, whereas the Lady Pirates were fouled just seven times in the contest, making 9-of-11 shots at the stripe.
The first quarter took “low-scoring” to new levels: PDL led 7-2 by the end, a clear indication this would be a battle of possession and position as the rivals felt each other out and probed for defensive weaknesses. Long shots got nobody nowhere fast, but Ponce’s Makayla Fisanick did score on a 3-pointer with 5:38 to go, marking the only time a shot from the arch would result in a swish until the third quarter. Paxton continued to trail the Pirates, led by Delilah Bass (11 points) by a few baskets until close to the five-minute mark of Q2, when Sebastian put in a short jumper for a brief 11-10 lead, which then became a 13-all tie and a 15-14 Ponce lead at the intermission.
The advantage swapped several times in the third period, and the game was tied 18-all with 4:21 on the clock. A 5-to-1 turnover ratio cost the Pirates, and enabled Paxton’s Cortni McKee and Cassidy Brazile to make their presence known, helping the Lady Cats to a tenuous 23-21 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Regulation’s final frame was a zinger, with PDL winning on a few tightly-contested possessions in the last few minutes, and Taylor West (13 points) earned her spot at the Pirates’ high-scorer, stretching out for back-to-back diving And-1s. Ponce led 29-23 and maintained tight ball security, killing the clock for most of the latter part of the quarter, until Neale and Sebastian worked together to tie the game and send it into OT.
As it ended up, Paxton headed to Lakeland with a record of 21-7, set to take on Freeport, which felled the Chipley juggernaut 60-44 in the Region 2 final, on Tuesday. Even basking in the win over PDL, Paxton’s Williams had no illusions about the tough task ahead of him and his players, who will have to face the long-range shooting prowess of the Lady Bulldogs in the semi-finals. The impending matchup is historic: it marks the first time two Walton County schools will meet each other in the Final Four.
“We have a plan for dealing with [Freeport’s] ability to shoot 3-pointers,” Williams said. “We’ve known all season what they would bring to the table in terms of their offense, so we have had time to get ready for it. It’s just too bad that two county teams will have to travel eight hours to play each other.”
