The Gainesville High girls basketball team has played a tough schedule this season.

Their 15-8 record includes wins against Class 7A playoff teams West Port (Ocala) and Creekside (St. Johns), plus playoff teams Eastside (4A), 3A Newberry (twice), 3A Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) and Trenton (Rural).

Their eight losses have come against non-FHSAA member Potter’s House Christian (Jacksonville) and playoff teams Bolles (3A) and Ribault (4A) of Jacksonville, Tallahassee Rickards (4A), Wildwood (twice) and Williston (Rural), and Strongsville, the No. 4 overall team in Ohio.

“The losses are a lesson,” said Gainesville coach Jazlynd Rollins, who helped lead Buchholz to the Class 7A state title as a senior in 2013. “We play that tough schedule every year so we can get better. Last year, we played a tough schedule so we can get prepared for this year. This year we’re playing a tough schedule so we can get prepared for districts, regionals, and next year, so it’s a purpose to the plan.”

Since the 54-50 loss at home to Rural state semifinalist Wildwood (23-0) on Jan. 28, the Lady Hurricanes have won six in a row.

“I feel like once we lost that game it lit a fire in us,” said senior guard Jamison Cardwell, who transferred from Buchholz High School. “We should have won that game. We knew what we had to do to win that game. Wildwood is a great team, it was a great game, but I think that lit a fire that I don’t think nobody can put out right now.”

GHS, which won the Class 5A-District 2 title, defeated No. 7 seed Lincoln (Tallahassee), 66-28, on Feb. 13 in an FHSAA Class 5A-Region 1 Quarterfinal, followed by a 61-38 win at home on Tuesday against No. 3 seed Beachside (St. Johns).

Both of those games were at The Purple Palace, but now No. 2 seed GHS will make the long trip to Pensacola to face top seed Booker T. Washington.

The Lady Wildcats (20-5) survived and advanced with a 54-46 win at home in double overtime against No. 4 seed Ridgeview (Orange Park) in the other regional semifinal.

Brooker T. Washington, which recently won its 28^th district title in program history, was led by freshman guard Jada Clardy with 19 points and 20 rebounds to go along with four steals.

Senior guard Mi’kel Bonner (4 steals) finished with 11 points, while sophomore guard Nylah Brooks just missed a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.

A win on the road against the top seed in the region is what it will take for GHS to get to the school’s second final four in program history. The last time they appeared in an FHSAA state semifinal game was in 1987, when the Hurricanes fell to Fort Pierce Central, 52-50.

In fact, this is Gainesville’s first regional final appearance in 12 years.

Rollins, who is in her third season as head coach, said things started to turn in the home loss to Wildwood.

“After the Wildwood game I think they knew that we could do it,” she said. “They were excited to play the Wildwood game. Even though we lost they said they had a great time playing Wildwood. They were like ‘Coach we had so much fun let’s continue to do that,’ and from then on they took off.”

Four players scored in double figures in the win against Beachside, led by Cardwell with a game-high 16 as the ‘Canes advanced to their first Elite Eight since 2013 when they lost to eventual state champion Edgewater (Orlando) in the 6A Regional Final.

“Jamison has been great so far,” said Rollins. “She’s made a complete turnaround with being more vocal, being a leader and I think that’s feeding into her offensive game. She’s been supporting her teammates, and her teammates are supporting her back. It’s been great for her on the floor.”

Cardwell, who scored her 1,000^th point last year against GHS, leads the team in scoring (16 ppg) and rebounds (5.5 rpg), followed by Louisiana Tech signee Jayden Terry (12.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg).

“We have come a long way,” said Terry, who scored her 1,000^th point during her sophomore season. “Coach Jazz, I mean we have our ups and downs, but she is the real MVP. She’s getting us prepared for these games and it takes a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that we’ve put into this game, but I feel like everybody is playing their role very well and we’re executing. As hard as we’ve worked, we definitely deserve it.”

GHS is the last area girls team still alive in the FHSAA playoffs. Friday’s tip has been moved up to 6 p.m. (CT).

The winner will advance to the RP Funding Center for the Class 5A state semifinals on Wednesday, March 5. The state title game is on Friday, March 7.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with information from the GHS athletics department. GHS also has state championships from 1921 and 1923, before the FHSAA started holding the state tournaments in 1976.