The Choctawhatchee Indians will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Booker T. Washington Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on February 9th. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Choctawhatchee had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They had just enough and edged Fort Walton Beach out 34-32.
Meanwhile, Booker T. Washington had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.1 points), and they went ahead and made it nine on Wednesday. They came out on top against Pine Forest by a score of 44-37. Given Booker T. Washington's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 11th, while Pine Forest is ranked 80th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Booker T. Washington found their leader in underclassman Chamiah Francis, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 23 rebounds. Francis is on a roll when it comes to points, as she's now scored 15 or more in the last nine games she's played. Another player making a difference was Da?rieon Gilbert, who scored four points along with seven rebounds and three steals.
Choctawhatchee has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. As for Booker T. Washington, their victory bumped their record up to 20-1.
Choctawhatchee opened the new year with a less-than-successful 52-39 loss to Booker T. Washington. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Francis, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine rebounds. Now that Choctawhatchee knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
