It’s now or never for the Eagle women

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 24, 2015) – Tallahassee Community College's women's basketball team has one final opportunity to punch a ticket to March Madness. 

Tonight, in Marianna, Fla., the NJCAA No. 22/FCSAA No. 6 Eagles (20-10) will play No. 24/No. 5 Gulf Coast State College (18-9) in a winner-take-all playoff game to determine the Panhandle Conference's No. 3 seed in next week's NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA State Basketball Tournament in Ocala, Fla. 

Both teams finished 5-7 in league play, forcing a decisive 13^th and final league game and the fourth head-to-head meeting of the season between the longtime rivals. 

Tallahassee won the first meeting this season, 82-63, on January 10 and held the upper hand in the league standings for most of the conference season. Everything changed, however, when Gulf Coast State won, 86-77, in Tallahassee on February 14.  The loss prevented the Eagles from locking up a postseason berth, and the Commodores finally pulled even following Saturday's 73-54 win at Pensacola State College in the scheduled regular season finale. 

Since the January victory over Gulf Coast State, Tallahassee has dropped seven of nine, including two to the Commodores. Gulf Coast State also picked up a 74-54 win in Panama City on January 28. 

This won't be the first time the teams have met on the neutral floor at Chipola College's Milton H. Johnson Health Center. In 1999, 2000 and 2010, the teams battled for the region championship and automatic berth in the NJCAA Tournament. Gulf Coast State was victorious in all three meetings. 

The winner of Tuesday's game will play Southern Conference Champion Eastern Florida State College at 8 p.m., Wednesday, March 4 in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA State Tournament.