Choctaw girls outlast Pine Forest, 76-73 in 2 OT (VIDEO, SLIDESHOW)

 FORT WALTON BEACH -  After Thursday night’s Region 1-6A quarterfinal between Pine Forest and Choctawhatchee, Indians girls basketball coach Don Brown looked as if he had played, not coached.

The sweat pouring from his freshly shaved head was understandable to anyone who saw his team pull out a 76-73 double-overtime win.

View a slideshow from the game »

Regulation ended in a 66-66 deadlock and both teams each scored a single basket in the first overtime period. But then Brittany Brown did what she often times does – she took over.

On a night in which she finished with seven 3-pointers for the game, none were bigger than her final two. Brown opened the second overtime with two straight 3-pointers to give her a game-high 41 points.

“This was the most emotional game I’ve ever played in,” Brittany Brown said. “My freshman year and my sophomore year we’ve fallen and I’ve been the cause of it. Tonight, I stepped up, everybody stepped up.”

Pine Forest was led by Jayla King’s 29 points and Tia Sanders added 21 for the Eagles (21-6).

“It doesn’t matter how you get it done in the playoffs, as long as you get it,” Don Brown said.

“I am very proud of each and every one of those girls. They did a great job. (Pine Forest) is a good basketball team,” he added.

The teams battled back-and-forth over the course of the game, and Choctaw (25-1) built the game’s only double-digit lead of the game with 4:26 to go in the contest on a Brown runner in the lane.

Pine Forest battled back and had a chance to win late as King went to the line for free throws off a technical foul on brown with 2.9 seconds remaining for calling a timeout when her team had none remaining.

Lauren Day, who finished with 15 for the Indians and had her hands full with the long-limbed King all evening, was just excited to advance.

“Feeling really good,” Day said. “I’m just excited to keep continuing. I think we can go all the way this year, I’m so excited.”

Up next, the Indians will face the team that gave them their only loss of the season in Pensacola. The Tigers defeated Fort Walton Beach 58-37 in their regional quarterfinal. Choctaw will travel to Pensacola on Tuesday.

“If we play like this and we just limit turnovers I think we’ll be able to beat Pensacola,” Day said.

Follow Pat Flynn on Twitter: @PatFnwfdn