By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Advance Managing Editor
B.C. Rain ended the Escambia County High School Lady Devils' basketball season in the sub-regional round of the state playoffs on Thursday night, 85-54.
The Lady Devils advanced to the sub-regional with an upset victory over Robertsdale in the first round of the area tournament last week. They were defeated by Blount in the area championship game on Thursday, Feb. 8.
B.C. Rain, who came into the sub-regional as the second ranked 5A team in the state, jumped all over the Lady Devils early on and never gave them an opportunity to get back in the game.
One reason for the Raiders' early offensive outburst was the play of Sophia Hinton who scored 22 of her 26 points in the first half.
Rain's defense played as well as their offense in the first period as they held Escambia County to only five points. Meanwhile, the shooters for B.C. Rain were getting good looks at the bucket as they took a 24-5 lead after the first period.
The Lady Devils warmed up offensively in the second period as they rattled off 17 points. But, Rain's offense continued to play well as they scored 29 points to take a dominating, 53-22, lead into halftime.
The Rain squad concentrated on maintaining their large lead in the second half as they held Escambia County to 32 points through the final two periods – keeping the game out of the Lady Devils' reach.
Leading scorers for Escambia County were Pam Bynum with 15 followed by Marquita Jones with 14 and Hannah Rigby finished with 12.
With this most recent appearance in the sub-regional game, the Lady Devils are on a six-year run of advancing to at least that far in the state playoffs. They have made it every year from 1996-2001 and will have an opportunity to continue the streak next season.
The loss to Rain ends another streak for the Lady Devils as this marks the first year since 1997 that they will not advance to the regional finals.
The Raiders also knocked Escambia County out of the playoffs last season in the regional contest.
The Lady Devils finish the season with an overall record of 8-14.