TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Last week, four Big Bend girls basketball teams made the trip to Lakeland for the State Final Four, with all four losing in their respective State Semifinals.
On Monday, both the Madison County and FAMU DRS boys fell in their State Semifinals, so the Big Bend as a whole? 0-6 in Semifinal play, but one team looks to break that trend Wednesday.
The Rickards Raiders is the final Big Bend team to play in the State Finals. They finished State Runners-up back in 2015, and this current senior class were freshmen then. Even though none of them played on that team, they are all excited to represent the Raiders and this time, bring it home.
"I'm not worried about anything. I feel like we'll be okay," said senior Destin Coates. "We'll go down there and perform well because it's nothing we haven't seen. We've played against good competition so I feel like we'll be okay."
"That's what we start each season envisioning," said head coach Eli Bryant of this year's trip to Lakeland. "That's what we work towards each year. Ever since '15, we've been disappointed."
The Raiders play Palatka Wednesday night in the Class 6A State Semifinals. Tip-off is set for 6:00.
