[02/16/01] BRANDON One by one, the Porters Chapel Academy Lady Eagles filed out of the locker room after their second-round Academy-A state tournament game against Delta Thursday night.

The look on their faces told the whole story. Tears poured down their faces and onto the shoulders of sympathetic friends and relatives, who could do little but offer hugs and kind words to ease the pain of a devastating 70-66, season-ending loss.

“They say that everything is part of God’s plan, but I don’t know what the plan is anymore. But if it’s losing, then there’s got to be some reason for it,” said PCA senior E.J. Willis, who led the team with 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists but ended her record-setting career on the bench after fouling out with 16.5 seconds to play. “I just want to say to all the underclassmen and anybody reading this article, take advantage of the years you have left. They’re over before you know it.”

Freshman Jessica Lord added 16 points for the Lady Eagles (25-11).

It was the third time in four seasons that Delta (39-3) ended PCA’s season in the state tournament, and this time around was no less heartbreaking than the previous two.

PCA led 66-65 with less than two minutes to play, but missed two shots, turned the ball over on a traveling call with 4.5 seconds left and down two points, and watched helplessly as Delta scored its last nine points from the free-throw line.

“It’s hard. I thought we did good. We had a good year,” PCA coach Mitchell Willis said. “I still feel like whoever wins this, we can still beat them the next night. We probably already have.”

PCA’s Kala White said the Lady Eagles weren’t intimidated by Delta despite their history.

“When we were out there playing, we realized they weren’t any better than we were,” she said.

Delta’s Lindsey Roy scored 17 of her 32 points in the second quarter to help give the Lady Raiders a 35-27 halftime lead. But PCA chipped away at the margin through the first half of the third quarter and took a 45-44 lead on a 3-point play by E.J. Willis with 2:23 to go in the period.

“I think we we had a lead, so we thought we were going to coast,” said Delta’s Lauren Adams, who had a game-high 33 points and 12 rebounds.

The teams went back and forth the rest of the game, neither ever leading by more than five points. A pair of 3-pointers by PCA’s Kayla Barnette helped trigger an 8-2 run midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Lady Eagles a 64-61 lead with 3:51 to play.

“I came back in the game and I just thought we needed to get fired up. I had missed a couple of shots before that, so I just wanted to start hitting some,” said Barnette, who had six points and five assists.

Roy hit a pair of free throws with 2:33 left in the game to cut it to 64-63, and Delta retook the lead on two free throws by Adams with 2:12 to go.

E.J. Willis put PCA back in the lead seven seconds later with two free throws, and the Lady Eagles got the ball back after a Delta miss with under two minutes to play.

PCA dribbled about 20 seconds off the clock before Mitchell Willis called for a timeout, despite only minimal defensive pressure by Delta and having the ball in E.J. Willis’ hands.

Mitchell Willis said he wanted to calm the Lady Eagles down and keep them focused.

“Whenever you start trying to stall, sooner or later you end up with a turnover, or you put up a bad shot,” he said.

PCA dribbled more time off the clock, taking it under a minute to play, when things really began to unravel.

E.J. Willis found Kala White all alone under the basket with about 30 seconds left, but White missed the layup. Adams grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and hit two free throws to give Delta a 67-66 lead.

Now trailing, PCA put the ball in E.J. Willis’ hands. She drove in from the left corner with less than 20 seconds to play, but missed a short jumper. Adams grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 16.5 seconds left by Willis, who had played the entire quarter with four fouls.

Adams sank the first free throw to make it 68-66, but missed the second to give the Lady Eagles one last chance. Without E.J. Willis as its go-to player, the ball found its way into the hands of Kelly Ashley, who was wide open from about 18 feet. But Ashley was whistled for traveling as she began her shooting motion with 4.5 seconds left.

Delta’s Kaysey Corbin was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and hit both free throws to seal the game.

“We tried to delay and things didn’t go our way,” E.J. Willis said. “We panicked when we came down to it.”

Several Lady Eagles, who only moments before had been anticipating a long-awaited victory over their longtime playoff nemesis, began crying during the postgame handshake and the tears continued to flow in the locker room.

“Everybody hit the floor crying,” Barnette said. “There’s nothing Mitchell can say. Yelling at us isn’t going to help. He was real calm with us.”