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Columbia center Amaiya Callym is surrounded by Lincoln defenders during Saturday night's District 2-6A championship game. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter)
TALLAHASSEE — Despite falling to Lincoln 75-55 in Saturday’s District 2-6A championship, Columbia is headed back to the playoffs.
The FHSAA unveiled the playoff brackets Sunday morning and the Lady Tigers were awarded the No. 5 seed in Region 1-6A. They’ll face No. 4 seed and District 3 champion Creekside, which lost to Columbia 57-54 in Lake City on Jan. 18.
It’s the first back-to-back playoff appearances for the Lady Tigers (21-7) since the 1993 and 1994 seasons. They are chasing their first postseason win since 1992, with the only other playoff victories in the past three decades coming in 1990 when they made it to the state final before losing to Miami Carol City.
“As a coaching staff our goal has always been to get a district champion team,” said third-year coach Anthony Perry said. “The goal is always to win the district and then see about going farther. Being back-to-back is just another milestone that we haven’t thought about because we’re in the midst of changing the program and changing the culture so we expect to be in the playoff situation. That’s the expectation. It’s good and great for the program.”
Lincoln won its sixth straight district title and grabbed the No. 1 seed in the region as a result. No. 8 seed Daytona Beach Mainland will travel to the Lady Trojans, with the winner moving on to face the winner of Columbia-Creekside.
The bottom half of the bracket pits No. 2 seed and District 4 champion Wekiva against No. 7 seed Leon, while No. 3 seed and District 1 winner Pace will host No. 6 seed Crestview.
Columbia rose from seventh to fifth in the region with its district run, which included a 42-39 win over Leon in the semis. Now the Lady Tigers aim to get out of the first round of regionals after losing their playoff opener last season to eventual state runner-up Nease.
“We’ll be ready on the defensive end,” Columbia coach Anthony Perry said after Saturday’s loss. “Now what we do on offense is going to determine (how we do), so that’s going to be the focus. And I believe if we can get past the first round, because I know that’s going to be a challenge because of losing last year, then hopefully we can ride a wave as far as we can go. That’s the goal. And I love it because this is new territory so when we get there we just want to keep going, and if they get hungry enough, they’ll prepare and be ready.”
The Lady Tigers showed they could hang with the Lady Trojans in Saturday’s district title game. They just couldn’t hit their free throws.
After losing to Lincoln by 34 and 27 points in their two regular-season meetings, Columbia came out with a sense of urgency and led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter. But despite getting into the bonus early, the Lady Tigers missed 15 free throws in the first half and eventually went into halftime down 37-23.
They never recovered and never led again, falling behind by as many as 31 in the second half. Foul shooting didn’t improve much either as Columbia finished just 14/43 at the free throw line.
“If we make our free throws it’s a closer game,” Perry said. “That kind of took our momentum out of it leading into the third. The game plan didn’t change. We were still aggressive but it just didn’t work out. And I think we got our heads down a little bit and between the third and the fourth we weren’t able to get that momentum back.”
Erin Turral made seven threes and scored 37 points for Lincoln while her twin sister Erica finished with 16 more. Brooklyn Ware also added 11 points.
Na’Haviya Paxton had a double-double for Columbia with 25 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists and five steals in the loss while Anzarria Jerkins added 11 points. Amaiya Callum also finished with 10 points and seven boards.
Despite not winning a district title, Perry has quickly turned the program around in just three seasons. Before taking over full time in 2018, the Lady Tigers hadn’t made the playoffs since 2009 and were coming off of seven straight losing seasons.
Columbia went 18-11 in Perry’s first year only to miss the playoffs by a game. But he finally got them back there last year, with the Lady Tigers falling to Nease 59-26 in the regional quarterfinals.
“We’re going to keep preparing until we get over that mountain,” Perry said. “But making it back-to-back, we like it. But we’re not going to settle for anything less. Why should we? And I think that takes some getting used to. But hard work got us here so that’s what it does. If you can translate that onto the court then you’ll be successful.”
INJURY REPORT
Columbia will head into the playoffs without sophomore guard Camille Perry, who is done for the season with a torn meniscus. An MRI recently revealed the tear, which she suffered against Hamilton County on Jan. 24.
Perry is expected to be sidelined for nine to 12 months as she rehabs the injury. She had returned to the court this season after missing her freshman year with a torn ACL.