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Posted Feb 22/11 - Pflugerville advances to UIL State Regional Semifinals (Final 16) with 62-47 win over The Woodlands; Panthers to face DeSoto Friday, Feb. 25 in regional semi's in Waco

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The state-ranked Pflugerville Panthers used a strong defense, a 16-point, eight-rebound performance from junior forward Itiana Taylor (pictured) along with a game-high 12 rebounds from senior foward Adesuwa Ebomwonyi en route to a 62-47 victory over The Woodlands Tuesday night in UIL State Regional quarterfinal play.

The Panthers used a 12-5 first quarter spurt and never allowed the Lady Highlanders to get closer than four points the rest of the way. The Woodlands were forced into 27 turnovers.

Head coach Nancy Walling's Panthers, now 29-6, advance to the UIL State Region 2 semifinals (Final 16) taking place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26 at the Ferrell Center on the campus of Baylor University in Waco. Pflugerville will face DeSoto High School (33-4) in the Regional semifinals on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of the regional semifinal doubleheader.

Continuing its proud girls basketball history, Pflugerville is making a UIL Regional semifinal Sweet 16 showing for the third time in the last four seasons, for the fourth time in the last seven years and for the 15th time in program history.

The Panthers have made 13 appearances in the Regional finals, advancing to the UIL State Championship Tournament (Final Four) six times.

Pflugerville is ranked No. 7 in this week's Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA) 5A poll and No. 10 in the Texas Basketball Coaches Association (TABC)/Tex Basketball Prep Magazine poll. DeSoto is No. 4 in the TABC/Tex Preps poll and fifth in the TGCA rankings.

DeSoto defeated Skyline 52-47 Tuesday night in its regional quarterfinal. DeSoto, winners of District 11-5A, advanced to the regional semifinals with wins over Temple (57-35) and Richardson Berkner (71-43) before the victory over Skyline.

In the Pflugerville-The Woodlands game, the Panthers held the Lady Highlanders to five points in the first quarter and held a 12-5 lead at the end of the period. Senior point guard Curtiesha Woods scored five points and Ebomwonyi pulled down seven rebounds in the first quarter to trigger the fast start against the Conroe ISD team.

The Panthers led by seven at intermission, 27-20 as the Lady Highlanders cut a 10-point Panther lead with three points in the last minute. The Woodlands shot 50 percent in the half, making eight of 16 field shots, but Pflugerville held a 22-12 edge on the boards to off-set a 36 percent shooting effort (9-for-25).

In the second half, Taylor and sophomore point guard Taliyah Brooks led the Panther attack. When The Woodlands closed the gap to four points, 28-24 with 4:35 left in the third quarter, Brooks nailed a three-pointer from the wing to push the lead to 31-24 with 4:28 to go. Following a Lady Highlander turnover and Panther free throw, senior post Nneka Enemkpali banked a jumper from the top of the key to push the lead to 34-24 with 4:15 to go.

Brooks extended P'ville's lead to 42-29 with 1:22 remaining in the period on a rare four-point play, getting fouled while sinking a three-pointer. She converted on the free throw. The Woodlands then had a trey of its own to close out the half with the Panthers up 42-32.

In the final quarter the Lady Highlanders came within seven (42-35) before Taylor scored the next eight Panther points for a 50-37 edge with three and a half minutes left. A Brooks trey and a driving layup by Ebomwonyi pushed Pflugerville's lead to 16, 53-37 with 3:22 to go.

Brooks finished with 15 points while junior guard Ari Booth had eight points. Enemkpali added seven points and seven rebounds while Ebomwonyi had six points and a team-high six assists. Taylor also added a game-high five steals.

The Woodlands, ranked 19th in the TABC/Tex Preps poll, finishes its season at 26-6. The Lady Highlanders were out-rebounded by the Panthers, 39-26. The Panthers had 13 steals to The Woodlands' eight.

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