FORT WALTON BEACH – The pressing question Tuesday night wasn’t who’d earn the right to play Choctaw for the District 1-7A title.
P-Nut Payton’s back-to-back buckets for Fort Walton Beach in the first 20 seconds essentially decided that fate.
Instead, the overarching question was would Crestview score. Yep, you read that right.
The first eight minutes passed without a Bulldog basket, the Vikings lead reaching 27-0.
By the start of the second quarter, Crestview had more turnovers (12) than shot attempts (nine).
With 6:54 left in the second quarter, Sabrina Patterson got open with a pump fake on the right corner, pulled up from 16 feet out and buried the jumper.
Drama erased. Nothing to see here. Fort Walton Beach is moving on.
P-Nut Payton delivered 25 points, 10 steals and six rebounds and the defending district-champion Vikings shined defensively in a 59-10 win to secure a third straight regional playoff spot and a place in the district title.
“This is where we want to be. We want to be in the district championship game,” Fort Walton Beach coach Holly McDaniel said. “At this point it’s just about taking it one game at a time and locking in to what we do best.”
What the Vikings do best is play suffocating defense. Crestview struggled against the full-court press and struggled to navigate the Vikings’ zone defense.
The Vikings held the Bulldogs to 4-of-27 shooting and forced 23 turnovers, 17 of which came in the first half en route to a 42-4 lead. Had McDaniel left her starters in past the midway point of the third quarter, the Bulldogs wouldn’t have reached double digits on the scoreboard.
McDaniel said the key to the defensive success is revisiting their roots in practice.
“Usually around this time we kind of go back to square one and we start doing some of those same drills in the preseason,” McDaniel said. “It’s about going back to the basics and making sure those small things are cleaned up.”
The score may have been a bit of a shock, but the result wasn’t. After all, Fort Walton Beach (19-6) swept the regular-season series with Crestview with wins of 61-37 and 72-20.
Now the Vikings will look to do something that’s eluded them this year: Beat Choctaw.
The Vikings will travel to the TeePee on Friday for a 7 p.m. tipoff against crosstown rival Choctaw. The Indians defeated McDaniel’s crew 66-63 on Dec. 15 and 54-40 on Jan. 11 to secure the district tournament No. 1 seed and an automatic spot in the title game.
“We see each other so much,” McDaniel said. “They’re extremely athletic, they play so well together, (Amber) Leggett does a really good job of leading her team and they’re resilient.”
Of course the Indians are still looking for redemption from last year’s postseason run.
After all, Fort Walton Beach beat Choctaw 62-58 in the district championship last year and later bounced the Indians in the Sweet 16 with a 47-40 overtime victory. That led to a state title appearance before falling just short to Fort Meyers in Lakeland.
The win shores up a third straight regional playoff trip for Fort Walton Beach, which has advanced to at least the Sweet 16 every one of those years. Choctaw, meanwhile, has seven straight regional playoff appearances.
Niceville 56, Navarre 18
Grace Annachairico had 14 points and the Eagles advanced to the District 1-8A title game in the rout.
Jasmin Griggs and Grace Dowden added nine points each and Gabby Schuelke and Maia Amato both scored eight points for Niceville, which beat Navarre 91-21 and 67-27 earlier in the year.
The Eagles advance to host Tate Friday at 7 p.m. for the district title.
Baker 47, Freeport 45
Izzy Cain had 26 points, Kashira Casey dished out eight assists and Kaitlyn Watts had 12 points and eight rebounds to help advance the Gators to the District 3-1A title game.
The Gators (14-3) will face Chipley for the championship on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
North Bay Haven 49, South Walton 44
The Seahawks' season ended at 18-5 in the loss.