Jay girls basketball's best season in 30 years ends in state title loss

Jay girls basketball's best season in 30 years finished one win short of the ultimate goal.

The Lady Royals (25-5) saw their state title dreams and 17-game winning streak dashed by Williston 66-49 in the FHSAA Rural state championship at UNF Arena in Jacksonville on Feb. 27. The Red Devils (22-2) won their first state championship in their first ever Final Four appearance.

Jay's Aubreigh Nelson scored a team-high 18 points, while Kaylee Gilbreath chipped in 13 points and four rebounds in her final high school game. Presley Hawthorne stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists in four steals.

The Lady Royals played with six players after junior forward Hattie Locklin suffered a leg injury with 41 seconds left in the first quarter. Locklin had to be carried off the court and didn't return. She totaled 16 points and nine rebounds in Jay's state semifinal win over Hilliard.

Williston sophomore Kierce Solomon had her best high school game yet on the biggest stage, pouring in a career-high 25 points and hitting 7-of-9 3-point attempts. Solomon continued to find and hit open looks in Jay's 2-3 zone. Red Devils not named Solomon shot just 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.

Ashlyn Young recorded 15 points and five assists, while Tiona Wilkinson recorded a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds and added three blocks and three steals.

Williston led for 30 minutes and 16 seconds of game time, compared to just 44 seconds for Jay. The Red Devils shot 41.5 percent compared to the Lady Royals 37.8 percent, but outrebounded Jay 35-23. That led to 12 second chance points compared to Jay's 5. The Red Devils also scored 21 points off of 16 Lady Royals turnovers, while Jay scored 14 points off 13 Williston turnovers.

Nelson banked in a shot in the lane, to give Jay an early 2-0 lead, but Williston answered with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers for a 9-2 lead.

That set the tone for the rest of the game. The Lady Royals never went away, but could never get enough stops to really make Williston sweat.

The Red Devils hit four 3-pointers in the opening frame and were able to blow by Jay defenders, jumping out to a 20-12 first quarter lead. But the Lady Royals settled in, limiting Williston with its zone defense and were able to get a couple easy baskets in transition.

Gilbreath's triple gave Jay a 23-22 lead with 4:35 left in the second quarter, but that was the last time the Lady Royals led all night. Kaelynn Brown answered to put Williston back in front and the Red Devils continued to keep Jay at arm's length.

Williston led 30-26 at halftime and pushed the lead to 35-29 early in the third quarter before Jay answered again with six straight points to tie the game.

Gilbreath's triple tied the game again 40-40, then Wilkinson split a pair of free throws to put Williston back in front with 1:17 left in the quarter. Jay had a chance to take the lead on the next possession, but Wilkinson stole a pass and Solomon knocked down a transition three to put Williston up 44-40.

That was part of a 9-0 run that gave the Red Devils some breathing room for the first time since the fourth quarter. Jay got as close as five in the fourth quarter before Williston ended the game on a 12-0 run.

Jay made history this season, advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 1998 after losing in the regional final three straight seasons, then played in the state championship game for the first time since 1996.

The Lady Royals will graduate two seniors in Gilbreath and Georgia Lewis, but will return the rest of their main rotation, including Hawthorne and Nelson, which should be enough to be in contention for another deep playoff run next season.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Jay girls basketball loses state championship to Williston