District girls b-ball: Bay upset; Jay, PDL advance

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Bay didn’t have a remedy for Pensacola Catholic in the second overtime, and the second-seeded Tornadoes were upset by the Crusaders, 46-43 Friday night in the District 1-3A basketball tournament being played at Walton High School.

Bay, 17-5, fought Catholic to a 40-40 deadlock at the end of regulation. The Tornadoes were led by underclassmen Akeelah Jackson with 13 points and Shyterrria Webb with 11.

Leading scorer Tanesha Middleton was held to six points in her final prep game.

Catholic advanced to meet the winner of Marianna-Walton in tonight’s championship game.

District 1-2A

Jay 57, Baker 50

PONCE DE LEON — The Jay Lady Royals took charge down the stretch and Tessa Hendricks led the way. The sophomore scored 17 of Jay’s final 21 points as the Lady Royals beat the Baker Lady Gators to advance to the district finals.

Baker (11-7) led 15-9 in the first quarter lead before getting iton foul trouble. The Lady Royals went 10-15 from the free-throw line and held a 28-23 halftime lead.

Jay (14-9) led 38-33 lead going into the fourth quarter when Baker center Caitlin Holley fouled out. The Lady Gators rallied, however, as Cassidy Anderson hit a 3-pointer and Bethany Chestnut made a layup to bring them within 39-38 with 5:32 to play.

Then Hendricks went on her run to finish with 28 points. Anderson scored 14 points, while Carly Barton and Chestnut scored 10 each.

PDL 45, Freeport 30

PONCE DE LEON — The Ponce de Leon Lady Pirates (22-3) advanced to the finals with a win over Freeport.

PDL led 12-5 in the first quarter, but Freeport closed within 20-16 before baskets by Jasmine Flock and Ashley Harper gave the Lady Pirates a 25-16 halftime lead.

From there the home team took command, easing away to a 31-20 lead after three quarters and outscoring Freeport 14-6 in the fourth.

Hillary Harper led PDL with 11 points, while Nikki Blalock scored 11 for Freeport and Dannica Mosher had 10.