The Lady Hornets of Deep Creek moved one step closer to fulfilling a season long dream – win a state championship. What started out to be battle between Central Region runner-up Hermitage and Eastern Region Champion Deep Creek ended in an easy 43-31 victory for the Lady Hornets. Expectations for a close game ended late in the 2nd half when Hermitage center, Alexandra Street went down with a badly twisted ankle. She was assisted off the floor and did not return for the remainder of the game. This was a terrible blow to the Panthers who were not able to match up with Deep Creek inside.

Cynthia Jordan put on quite a show. Jordan scored 22 points on 8 of 11 from the floor, most of them slashing drives to the basket. Jordan went 6 of 8 from the free throw line, grabbed 2 rebounds, had four steals, and handed out three assists.

The game started with Hermitage getting on the board first with two free throws from Megan Kirkland. Hermitage jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first quarter, but with 1:27 remaining Deep Creek took a 9-8 lead on a lay-up by Angela Perry with 1:27 left in the first quarter. Megan Silva’s 3-pointer with 19 seconds left put Hermitage up 13-9 at the end of one quarter of play.

In the second quarter Cynthia Jordan started directing the offense and Deep Creek took a 14-13 lead, only to foul Megan Kirkland on a 3-point attempt. Kirkland made all three of her free throws and Hermitage regained the lead at 16-14 with 5:43 left in the second quarter. The lead would change hands 7 times in the first half. Jordan’s driving lap-up with 1:57 left put the Hornets up 20-18 and her free throw was good making the score 21-18. Hermitage failed to score on their next possession and Deep Creek scored again off a missed shot to make the score 23-18 with 1:14 left in the half. It was during this time that Alexandra Street went down with an ankle injury. The Hornets went in at intermission with a five point lead, 23-18.

Starting the second half, with Street on the bench, it was obvious that Hermitage was in trouble with out their big center. The Lady Hornets, behind the shooting of Cynthia Jordan began to pull away and force the smaller Panthers to take bad shots and turn the ball over. With Deep Creek holding a 29-22 lead with over four minutes left in the third quarter. The Lady Hornets attempted to pull Hermitage out of their zone defense, but they stayed in their zone for over four minutes. Being down by only seven points, with Street on the bench staying in the zone was not a bad move. Deep Creek had the momentum and the ball. They held for one last shot, but Hermitage got the ball back with 10 seconds left and almost scored.

It was not until Jordan hit two free throws with 6:19 left in the fourth quarter that either team had scored in over six minutes.

Hermitage, finding itself down by seven, began to rush their shots trying to shoot over Ashley Johnson (9 rebounds) and turn the ball over. The Lady Hornets capitalized on three quick steals and pushed the score to 35-28 with 1:14 left in the game. Outgunned on the boards, all the Panthers could do was wait for the clock to run down, but the Hornets would add to their score on some quick break always. The Lady Hornets of Deep Creek by virtue of their 43-31 victory over Hermitage, will advance to the semifinals against Oakton, a 54-36 winner over Gar-Field.