Gainesville Girls Basketball Breezes Past Buchholz in District Semifinal

The No. 2 seed Gainesville Hurricanes defeated the No. 3 seed Buchholz Bobcats, 45-30, in the 6A-District 2 girls basketball tournament semifinal Wednesday at the Purple Palace.

Gainesville (9-12) entered this must-win game against Buchholz (11-9) having lost six of its last seven games, putting a significant dent into its record.

Give and Go

The first half was gritty and evenly matched, with each team getting scoring chances. Senior Jocelyn Wallace led the way for Gainesville with nine points, while Buchholz’s Jamison Cardwell answered with nine points of her own.

The score was 17-16 Bobcats in the second quarter when Jayden Terry scored a layup with 2.3 seconds to go, giving the Hurricanes a one-point lead (18-17) entering the halftime break.

‘Canes Break Through

At first, the second half was looking to be more of a defensive battle, with neither team scoring a point in the first minutes of the third quarter.

Wallace finally broke through with a layup on a Bobcats turnover, and after that, it was all Gainesville. The ‘Canes outscored the Bobcats 14-4 in the third quarter, and continued to dominate in the fourth behind great performances from Wallace, Terry and Taylor Mullins.

Looking Ahead

Gainesville plays in the district championship game against the No. 1 seed Tallahassee Lincoln Trojans (20-4) in Tallahassee on Friday.

Lincoln defeated five seed Tallahassee Chiles (10-12) in Wednesday’s other semifinal, 58-31.