PORTAL — Heading into the season, the Portal girls were intent on taking a big step forward.
    The Lady Panthers fought through their fair share of injuries and adversity and – following the release of the final Class A power poll on Tuesday – are now officially in uncharted territory.
    For the first time in school history, the Lady Panthers are heading to the state basketball playoffs. Tonight, they travel to Cuthbert to take on Randolph-Clay.
    “It’s pretty exciting,” Portal coach Cliff Hubbard said. “This is definitely a new experience for all of us, but we welcome that.
“We ran all of the numbers over the weekend and had a pretty good idea that we would get into the field. We practiced through the weekend anticipating that we’d get in, so we’re still going strong.”
    After a fast start to the regular season, a rash of injuries to nearly every guard on the Panthers’ roster left Portal floundering near the bottom of its sub-region. Things weren’t looking great, but the Panthers dug in their heels just in time.
    Portal rattled off wins over Jenkins County and Wheeler County in the Region 3-A tournament and — while the Panthers fell to Calvary Day in the region quarterfinals — the pair of victories was enough to push it into the state playoff field.
    This season has certainly been a huge positive for the Panthers, but there is no time to celebrate as the top-seeded Red Devils pose a huge challenge.
    Randolph-Clay stormed its way to a 26-2 regular season record an has won its last 16 games. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the No. 16 seed Panthers (11-14) are the only team in the tournament field with a losing record.
    “We know that we’ve got a tough opponent in Randolph-Clay,” Hubbard said. “They have played and beaten a lot of good teams. They’ve got a lot of size and inside scoring. It’s going to take a lot of positioning and boxing out and fighting hard under the basket.”
    Portal does have the advantage of being a bit healthier as leading scorer Shiann Hagins is feeling better after suffering from a leg injury for most of the last month.
    Gloria Wiggins will also return to the court for the Panthers and her ball handling will be instrumental in the patient approach to offense that Hubbard predicts will be necessary to compete with the Red Devils.
    “It’s great to have some girls healthier,” Hubbard said. “But the bottom line is that we’re going to need everyone to play a very good game. We’ve fought hard to get here and I don’t think that any of us are ready for this season to end.”
    Tonight’s winner will advance to play either Mitchell County or Irwin County in the Elite Eight next week.

    Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9404.