The game wasn’t quite sealed there. The Cougars (22-6, 5-0) were able to force an Islander miss, and Jada James was fouled after securing the rebound. She went to the line for a one-and-one, and despite all of the pressure on her, she made both with ease.

“The fact with Jada (is) she has been clutch in practice. Her practice has been phenomenal,” Como Park head coach Olonda England said. “She did not want to go home.”

The Cougars forced a miss at the buzzer and the home fans stormed the court to celebrate a 75-72 section championship win for their Cougars. 

Porter exuded tons of confidence. But in that moment, she was overwhelmed. 

“I didn’t even know what to do," she said. "I honestly didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of people here, I wanted to cry, couldn’t cry. It was a lot of emotion.” 

The raucous crowd ended up being a positive and energized the Cougars throughout the second half, but it was a worry for England early in the game. 

“We started a little slow, but it was going to be a hard game cause of all the fans, that’s probably the biggest crowd we’ve had. It was a little scary for a minute cause they couldn’t hear us,” she said. “With my seniors out there, they’re seasoned enough and they knew what they were supposed to do.” 

Her seniors proved that. Porter finished with a game-high 27 points, adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Fellow senior guard Kaylynn Asberry added 18 points. And James, despite playing fewer minutes than usual because of foul trouble, made the two clutch free throws to seal it. 

England pointed out Shakyla Walker, another senior, for her defensive performance. She was tasked with guarding Savannah White, who put up 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half. There were no crazy adjustments at halftime according to England. 

“Just telling Shakyla Walker to play D,” she said. 

White finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds. 

While seniors lifted the Cougars, it was two freshmen who excelled for the Islanders (22-7, 11-1) late in the game. White made the clutch go-ahead three and finished with eight points. And Aneisha Scott had 13 points and five rebounds and took over the offense late in the game. The Cougars are now heading to the state tournament for the first time since 2016. England knows preparation for that stage comes down to more than just practicing the X’s and O’s.

“We’re going to get them mentally ready for it,” she said. “That’s the main thing because this is a whole lot, and right now they’re probably overwhelmed. So my thing is to get them mentally ready, keep them bonding like they’ve been and go from there.”