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Posted Feb 25/11 - Pflugerville moves into UIL State Regional Finals (Final Eight) with dramatic 65-63 overtime win over DeSoto; Panthers square off against Georgetown Saturday, Feb. 26 in the regional title game

WACO, Texas -- Behind two clutch free throws by senior guard Curtiesha Woods with 9.4 seconds left in overtime, the state's No. 9 ranked Pflugerville Panthers posted a dramatic 65-63 win over No. 2 ranked DeSoto Friday night in the UIL State Tournament Region II Championship Semifinals (Final 16) held at the Ferrell Center on the campus of Baylor University.

DeSoto had one final possession after the two made Woods' foul shots, but a desperate three-point attempt from halfcourt by Bryce Owens air-balled with less than a second remaining and went out of bounds.

The win moves Pflugerville, 30-6, into the Region II Championship Game - Final Eight of the 5A state tournament. The Panthers will face District 16-5A rival Georgetown at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center.

The winner of Saturday's Region II title game advances to the 2011 UIL State Tournament Final Four next weekend at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

See Austin American-Statesman game story: Rematch looms for Georgetown, Pflugerville girls, by Danny Davis

The Panthers battled back from a 30-23 halftime deficit and shook off foul trouble to three starters Panther junior forward Itiana Taylor (pictured) and senior post Nneka Enemkpali combined for 39 points, 29 rebounds and nine steals in the victory. The Panthers were a clutch 15 for 18 from the foul line in the second half and overtime, including a four-for-four effort in the OT period.

This marks the 14th time in Pflugerville's illustrious basketball history - and the fourth time since 2005 - that head coach Nancy Walling's Panthers have advanced to the Regional championship. Pflugerville made appearances in the Final Eight in 2005, 2008, 2009 and now in 2011.

Georgetown (31-3) defeated Killeen Ellison (30-7), 51-33, in Friday night's first semifinal. DeSoto, winners of the District 11-5A title, ends its season at 32-6. The Eagles ranked No. 4 in the TABC/Tex Preps 5A poll. Pflugerville is No. 10 and Georgetown second. This week in the MaxPreps state poll, the Panthers are No. 9 while DeSoto was third and Georgetown seventh.

Pflugerville has advanced to the State Tournament semifinals six times in history, the last times in 2005 and 2009.

Pflugerville finished second in district play to Georgetown, who won both matchups this season: 58-50 on Jan. 11 at P'ville and 66-62 on Feb. 5 at Georgetown.

Against DeSoto, Taylor led all Panther scorers and rebounders with a double-double, registering 20 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Enemkpali added her own double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while adding five steals and four blocks to the winning effort.

Taylor and Enemkpali were key to the Panthers' defensive effort, leading P'ville to its commanding edge in rebounding (43-24).

It was a game of runs where there were four lead changes and six ties in the final half and overtime. The largest lead of the second half was a six-point Pflugerville lead (50-44 with 4:59 to go in the fourth quarter). On DeSoto's next possession, however, Panther senior forward Adesuwa Ebomwonyi - the team's top rebounder - drew her fifth and final foul with 4:23 to go in the period.

After Woods sank both ends of a one-and-one for a 54-48 lead with 3:35 left, the Eagles went on a 10-1 run, aided by two Panther turnovers and two missed shots, to pull ahead by three, 58-55 on a junior guard Jordan Jones' layup and free throw with 2:03 remaining.

The Panthers then got a driving layup from Enemkpali 14 seconds later to pull within 58-57 before Jones made one of two foul shots to extend the Eagles' lead to 59-57 with 52 seconds left. On Pflugerville's next possession, Taylor was fouled underneath and sank both foul shots to knot the game 59-all with 39 seconds to go. Both DeSoto and Pflugerville turned the ball over on their next possessions which sent the game into overtime.

In the OT session, DeSoto would miss all three of its foul shots, connect on two of four field goal attempts and commit a turnover with 25 seconds left, while the Panthers would make one field goal and go a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

An Enemkpali layup gave P'ville a 61-59 edge before Jones scored on a layup and was fouled, missing the free throw to tie the game 61-61. Two Taylor free throws gave P'ville a 63-61 edge with 1:18 to play before senior center Chelsea Gardner netted a layup with 51 seconds to play to tie the game again, 63-63. Both teams then committed turnovers under Pflugerville's basket - first the Panthers and then the Eagles, with the ball being in Pflugerville's possession with 25 seconds left.

On the Panther possession, Woods was fouled and went to the line with 9.4 seconds left where she sank her winning foul shots. She finished with nine points.

Jones had a game-high 29 points for DeSoto.

In the game, Pflugerville had 13 steals to DeSoto's 12. The Panthers were one-for-four in 3-pointers while DeSoto went five-for-11 from behind the arc. After a poor first-half free throw performance (9-for-17), Pflugerville finished the game sinking 24 of 35, going 15-for-18 from the line in the final half and overtime. The Eagles, 12 of 23 in foul shots, were 7-of-8 in the first half but hit only five of 15 free throws down the stretch.

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