Jay junior point guard Presley Hawthorne didn’t want to wait until the final buzzer to start celebrating.
With about 30 seconds left she told senior guard, Kaylee Gilbreath, who is also her cousin, that the Lady Royals had done it.
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Then with two seconds left and a win over Chipley all but sealed up, Hawthorne sprinted from under the Tigers basket to Jay head coach Jorey Diamond on the opposite bench.
After three straight years of regional finals losses, the Lady Royals are Final Four bound for the first time since 1998 after a 51-44 win over Chipley in the Rural Region 1 final on Feb. 20.
Jay (24-4) will play in the Rural state semifinals on Feb. 24 on CSI Companies Court at UNF Arena in Jacksonville. An opponent will be announced after the FHSAA reseeds the four regional champions.
“It’s taken us four years,” Hawthorne said. “Finally, we’ve jumped over this hump.”
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Breaking through wasn’t easy. This was the third meeting between the two teams this year, with Chipley (17-9) winning at home and Jay winning at home in the regular season.
Neither team led by more than eight points all night. Jay shook off some nerves and early sloppiness to get into the game early in the second quarter, and never trailed after Georgia Lewis hit two free throws for a 17-15 lead with 4:59 left in the second quarter.
But Chipley was always close behind. The Tigers led 11-7 at the end of the first quarter before Jay led 22-19 at halftime and 31-29 at the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Royals looked to be finally getting some breathing room early in the fourth quarter, Chipley’s Sarayah Hogan swished back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 40 with about five minutes remaining.
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But losing wasn’t an option. Jay entered this game on a 15-game winning streak, though they weren’t all easy wins. The Lady Royals just knew they needed to make a play. So Hattie Locklin found Georgia Lewis on the next possession to put Jay back in front. Then after a stop Locklin, found Lewis for a fastbreak layup.
Lewis surpassed her season-scoring average of 3.9 points per game with those two games. She finished with a career-high 14 points, just the fourth time in five years of varsity basketball she’s scored in double figures.
“It’s my last home game ever,” Lewis said. “I’ve spent so much time in this gym. I’ve been playing basketball since I was in third grade. I’ve spent so much time and energy and I wanted to leave it all out on the court tonight and I’m so glad we played our best game.”
Back-to-back layups by Aubreigh Nelson and Gilbreath with under two minutes remaining put Jay in front 50-42 and all but sealed the win.
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Nelson led Jay with a game-high 16 points, while Hogan finished with 12 points to lead Chipley. The Lady Royals hit 20-of-27 free throws compared to a 7-for-16 mark for the Tigers.
Students stormed the court after the game, and players took picture after picture with friends and family before squirting all the water they could find at Jorey Diamond in the postgame locker room.
A moment everyone in the Jay program will never forget, though they must quickly turn the page. The Lady Royals got over their regional final hump against a familiar opponent and now have to shift gears to face an unfamiliar one in Jacksonville in four days.
“There’s no secret to what we got to do,” Diamond said. “Even in practice, we do the same stuff over and over and they know it. So it’s about execution and who’s going to have the heart to do it.”
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Region 1-5A Semifinals
No. 1 Booker T. Washington 66, No. 5 Beachside 30
The Wildcats (21-3) came out swinging and never let up. They led 35-20 at halftime before forcing a running clock in the second half to advance to their third straight regional final.
Beachside (13-2) won at Pine Forest in the Region 1-5A quarterfinals on Feb. 20.
Booker T. Washington will host No. 2 Ponte Vedra in the Region 1-5A final on Feb. 27. The Wildcats will clinch their first Final Four appearance since 2021 with a win.
Region 1-1A Semifinals
No. 1 LEAD Academy 53, No. 5 Impact Christian Academy 12
The Lions (18-1) rolled into their first ever FHSAA regional final.
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L.E.A.D Academy will host No. 2 North Florida Education Institute in the Region 1-1A final on Feb. 27. The Fighting Eagles are the defending 1A state runners-up.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Jay Lady Royals basketball makes Final Four for first time since 1998
