H.S. Girls Basketball: Pensacola fends off Booker T. Washington in thrilling regular-season finale

A pair of area rivals have enjoyed bounce back campaigns in 2022-23.

And as the two young girls basketball squads shift their attention to their respective district tournaments, Booker T. Washington and Pensacola ended their regular seasons in dramatic fashion.

In a matchup that came down to the final play, the Tigers held off a late Wildcats rally to escape with a 42-40 home victory on Friday from the Barbara Rose Gymnasium.

"I was very proud of them because this is a team that's learning how to play the game and really learning how to play together," Pensacola head coach Alison Davis said. "It's just so pleasing when you have a group of young ladies who have started off with the very basics, the very minimum, and now to see them progress to a level of being able to beat their rival at the end of the season, I was very happy with the win."

"First of all, hats off to Coach Davis," Wildcats head coach Jade Brown said. "No matter what their record is and what she has, her girls always play hard. Since I've been in school, her girls always play hard. They deserved that win tonight."

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The key stretch of the night took place in the third quarter as the Tigers turned a halftime deficit to a 35-25 advantage entering the fourth.

From there, Booker T. Washington chipped into the gap, but failed on multiple chances to tie the game's final minutes. Its last opportunity came as Pensacola junior guard Ter'koiyah Long missed the front end of a one-and-one with 9.4 seconds. However, the road team did not get a shot off.

"For us, we got to do better. We got to be locked in and understand you've got to be ready to play when its time to play," Brown said. "You can't take possessions off, you can't take time off. It comes with being young, but I'm not making any excuses. We have to show up when its time to show up and not just turn it on when you get down."

Despite the loss, the visitors featured the best player on the floor.

Wildcats freshman center Chamiah Francis was unstoppable from the opening tip, finishing with career and game-highs of 25 points and 26 rebounds. She also added five blocks.

Pensacola's Zion Perkins totaled a team-high 15 points before fouling out late in the fourth. The sophomore guard watched the last minute of regulation from the bench, but was among the first players to race to midcourt to greet her teammates and soak in the victory.

After the teams went through the handshake line, the Tigers continued their celebration with a griddy dance in front of their fans.

"It felt really good because we worked really hard to get to this point, so you know we had to celebrate on the court," Perkins said. "During the fourth quarter, we let them get some points back up, but we stayed strong and held on to that lead."

Here's three takeaways from Friday's nailbiter in Pensacola.

Youth on display

Highlighted by impressive sweeps over Pine Forest and Pace along with a win against Niceville, the Wildcats own a 12-10 record after winning just three games a season ago. The Tigers are 9-11 after five total victories over the past two years where the team struggled to field a full roster.

Each program is in the midst of a turnaround campaign. But just as impressive of their reversal of fortune, each program has racked up these results primarily with its youth.

Pensacola does have a senior in its rotation in Nataly Woodlee as well juniors Long and Erica McCray, but the team also gets regular contributions from freshman Jada Richardson and sophomores Perkins and Nevaeh Keyser.

McCray, Keyser and Perkins are the team's only returners.

"The last couple of years, we really didn't have any players," Perkins said. “We had maybe five-seven players, but this year, we have a really good team. And I feel like we could go to districts and become district champions."

Meanwhile, Booker T. Washington doesn't have the fortune of a senior of its roster. In fact, small forward Sierra Brooks is the Wildcats' only active junior, as fellow junior Janiya Rodgers is out with an injury. The rest of the roster is made up of sophomores and freshmen.

Of course, guiding younger players taking the floor on both sides takes an exercise in patience as the results are frequently a mixed bag.

The Tigers had a stretch of six turnovers through seven possessions in the fourth quarter, but on the possession during crunch time where they didn't cough it up, the players showed calmness under pressure.

Inbounding the ball underneath the opponent's basket with her team up 38-34, Keyser threw a dime on a deep pass to Perkins, who finished the play with a layup.

"We saw that they were overplaying us and there was no protection at the basket," Davis said. "That was just a perfect pass from Nevaeh and we were just so happy that it was on target just like we practice. They followed directions and did an excellent job."

Through two possessions with the score at 40-38, the visitors couldn't convert four shots from point-blank range, as the ball painstakingly rolling off the iron each time. Francis was fouled on the final putback attempt, but she came up empty on two foul shots.

Then on the final possession, Wildcats sophomore Mikerria Bonner pulled down the rebound on the missed Long free throw, but she was slowed up the floor by Keyser. The ball was swung to sophomore Mikel Bonner, but a pass inside to Francis floated out of bounds as time expired.

Booker T. has been superb in tight games, going 5-1 in games decided by five points or less before Friday, but the team wasn't as fortunate this time around.

“They’re very good young ladies, I love being around them," Brown said. "They care about each other. It's just when you’re young and inexperienced, you go through some things, and we’re going through a lot with close games. … It’s been a real learning year for them and myself.”

'I never have to question her effort or her energy'

While only a freshman, Francis already has the polish of a veteran in several aspects of her game.

The 6-foot-3 center brutalized an undersized Pensacola group.

She contested and disrupted shots at the rim. She cleaned the glass with force, particularly on the offensive end where her putbacks were the team's best option to get on the scoreboard. Most notably, as Francis secured her offensive boards, she rarely put the ball back on the deck, keeping it elevated under duress to avoid a turnover before going back up under control.

Her numbers back it up. The freshman averages 13.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. She has scored in double figures in 18 of 22 games.

The scary thing is, her game will likely only get better.

"What I have enjoyed is that every night she plays hard, every practice she goes hard. I never have to question her effort or her energy," Brown said. "She's still very, very young with lots to learn, but she soaks it up a sponge. She wants to get better, she likes watching film and getting in the gym. ... To be so young, she has a very high IQ and her skill set is not where we want it, which is fine, but it's a lot better than a lot of people."

'The ultimate goal'

Both teams have some more work to do in order to qualify the state playoffs.

The Wildcats would be in if the postseason started today. They are ranked seventh in Region 1-5A, so a strong showing in the District 1-5A tournament would go a long way in securing a spot.

"I'm confident that if we can outwork our opponent, we can go wherever we want," Brown said.

Meanwhile, on the outside looking in in Region 1-4A (14th), the Tigers likely need to win the District 1-4A title if they want to go the big dance.

"We know coming in that we were young and that there would be growing pains, but our hope is still to be a district champion," Davis said. "So with all our contests, we have tried to prepare them for that, which is the ultimate goal."

Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at (850) 503-3828, on Twitter @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Girls Basketball: Pensacola closes regular season dramatic win over BTW