Women’s Basketball secured bid to the Florida State Championship

After competing in two must-win games this past week, the women’s team grabbed the number 2 seed in the Panhandle Conference. 

After losing a tough game to Pensacola State on February 9th, the girls knew it was go time. They were adamant that they should win the next two games. By losing either of these games, it would put them at stake for tying for third in the conference. They potentially would tie with Pensacola State, who had won the series of three games with Gulf Coast throughout the regular season. 

Their next game was against Chipola at home. Gulf Coast had beaten them once and had lost to them once. Ciante Downs led the team with 15 points to capture the first win. 

The next game was equally as important now. The Commodores came out hot with Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu leading the team with 19 points. Abbey Cracknell and Ciante Downs added 13 points apiece. 

Now that these two wins were secured, the girls were now tied for second in the conference with Chipola. This meant a playoff game to determine the number 2 seed was to be played as soon as possible. So, the team strapped up to turn around and play Chipola again this past Wednesday. 

The game was hosted at a neutral location and tip-off was at 5:30 p.m. The game was very back and forth. At halftime, GCSC led with only one point. At the end of regulation, the game was tied 67-67. In the end, the Commodores took the lead to win by one point. Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu led the team with 20 points and Imani Smith had 18 points. 

The girls are now headed to the state tournament where they will face Indian River in their first game.