Lady Eagles’ comeback falls short in home finale

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 19, 2013) – FCSAA No. 6 Tallahassee Community College (14-11, 3-8 Panhandle Conference) lost its home finale on Tuesday evening, falling to No. 1 Northwest Florida State College, 68-62, at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome.

With the victory, Northwest Florida State (24-3, 9-3) claimed a share of the Panhandle Conference championship. The winner of Saturday's regular season finale between Gulf Coast State College (8-3 PC) and Chipola College (8-3 PC) will join the Lady Raiders as PC co-champions, however, who wins will determine the order of seeding for next month's NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament.

If Gulf Coast State wins, it gets the PC's No. 1 seed, by virtue of owning the tie-breaker with Northwest Florida State, knocking Chipola to No. 3. If Chipola wins, however, Northwest Florida State, who owns the tie-breaker with the Lady Indians, gets the top seed from the PC and Gulf Coast State would fall to third.

Tallahassee trailed by as many as 18 points (47-29) early in the second half and still faced a 65-53 deficit with just under 90 seconds remaining.

Sarah Williams knocked down a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run and get the Lady Eagles within striking range.

After Jeraldine Campbell hit a pair of free throws to pull Tallahassee within four (66-62), Williams stole the inbounds pass and drew a foul with 13 seconds remaining, but she missed both shots from the charity stripe, all but ending the Lady Eagles' chance at a miracle comeback.

Northwest Florida State hit 7-of-13 from long distance in the opening half en route to a 36-21 lead. Tallahassee, on the other hand, struggled from the floor, connecting on only 8-of-31 attempts.

Behind Campbell's 14 points and 10 from Alexis Grant, Tallahassee outscored Northwest Florida State in the second half, 41-32.

Campbell finished with 24 points, leading all scorers.

Kiani Parker led Northwest Florida State with 23.  

Tallahassee will close out the 2012-13 season on Saturday when it travels to Pensacola State College for a 6:30 p.m. eastern tip against the Pirates. The game will be carried by Panhandle Sports Broadcasting at www.PSBlive.com.