Choctaw secures playoff spot behind Fingall, defense

Choctaw senior Nadia Fingall goes up for a layup during Thursday's 40-26 win over District 2-6A foe Fort Walton Beach.

SETH STRINGER, nwfdailynews.com, January 7, 2016

“Get the ball inside,” screamed the Choctaw coach, his team mired in a 4-for-16 shooting slump and trailing District 2-6A rival Fort Walton Beach 12-11 in the second quarter Thursday night.

His focus then shifted to his 6-foot-4 senior center, Nadia Fingall.

“Lead your team,” he yelled. “Get the ball in the paint in score. Stop taking these outside shots.”

Out of the timeout, and thus began a 14-2 run for the Indians, who rode Fingall’s 18-point, 16-rebound double-double and a stifling defensive effort to a 40-26 win on their home court.

Of course the yelling never stopped, not with the implications of a district tournament No. 1 seed and playoff bid on the line.

And that’s just what the Indians (16-4) secured, moving to 3-0 to secure a spot in the district championship while the Vikings (13-5) fell to 1-2 ahead of 0-2 Crestview

“We didn’t play our best but we still won the ball game,” said Brown, whose team also defeated the Vikings 49-30 on Dec. 15. “Good teams just find a way to win.”

The Indians found a way to win based on a multitude of factors.

Defensively, they held Fort Walton Beach to 23 percent shooting (3 of 18 from beyond the arc) and didn’t allow a single Viking to score in double figures.

But in the team effort, the Stanford-bound Fingall shined.

Along with swatting four shots, Fingall scored 11 of her 18 points in the second half. That included a traditional 3-point play in the fourth quarter that elicited a fist pump and a hefty yell from the animated Fingall.

“We came out really flat, but we got fed up,” Fingall said. “It shouldn’t have been that close of a game early on. I think we just needed to calm down and play our game.”

But Fingall scored nine points down the stretch and the Vikings, mustered just four fourth-quarter points.

“We’ve had a pretty good history over the last couple of years, but we never take (making the playoffs) for granted because you never know when it will stop,” said Fingall, who has helped lead the Indians to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances and a state championship appearance as a sophomore.

“It’s a good start to where we want to get to.”