By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Poinciana couldn’t overcome a stone-cold start or contain Gainesville Eastside on the glass Thursday at the girls 4A Region 2 quarterfinal basketball game at the Mike Brizendine gym.

The predictable result was a 54-48 loss to the Rams that ended the Lady Eagles season far short of where Coach Jamerson Jones thought it would.

“We gave the game away. We missed too many layups, and we got mauled on the boards,” Jones said.

Poinciana (23-3) hit only 7-of-28 shots in the first half and trailed 19-8 after the first quarter. Poinciana never led.

Eastside, led by forward Whitney Dollison (20 points, 9 rebounds), too easily penetrated the Poinciana defense most of the night and got second and third looks.

But, Poinciana rallied back in the second period when Jones turned on his press. The Lady Eagles forced eight turnovers in the second quarter and scored 12 straight points to pull within one, 21-20, with a minute left.

But, Eastside got two huge 3-point shots from Courtney Dollison (7) and forward Lanna Turner (10 points, 7 rebounds) to go in front 27-20 at the intermission.

“We had the press going and we got back in the game, but then they hit those two 3s and went up by seven right before the half. That was huge,” Jones said.

Poinciana kept battling in the second half as Kadesia Johnson (18), Brandii Walker (14) and Geraldine Navarro (9) helped the Lady Eagles pull to within four points twice in the fourth quarter, but every time it appeared that Poinciana would take command, the Rams countered with a clutch shot, a rebound or a steal.

“They out-rebounded and out-hustled us,” Jones said. “We thought we were going to advance pretty far this year, but we’re going out in the first round again. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us prepared.”

It was Poinciana’s third straight trip to the regional playoffs, but the team has yet to get past the first round.

Eastside, 18-8, will play Leesburg in the regional semifinal round Tuesday at Leesburg.

Leesburg eliminated Harmony Thursday, 62-45.