Middleton, Fla. — The Villages High School girls basketball team's quest for its third district title in program history came to an end Friday night in Middleton. 

A late comeback effort by the Buffalo was turned away by top-seeded Dunnellon, who closed out a 65-59 victory in the Class 4A-District 6 Tournament championship game at VHS. 

"The girls really battled," Buffalo head coach Marquez Porter said. "We got down early and they accepted the challenge. They battled back and gave ourselves a chance to win the game. We just made some key mistakes at the end of the game that we shouldn't have made."

The Villages (13-12 overall) trailed by as much as a dozen points in the second half and still looked up at a double-digit deficit with six minutes to play, before rallying late against the Tigers (21-3) with an impressive comeback effort. 

Zion McRae tallied 20 of her team-high 30 points in the second half to help spark a come-from-behind push, which eventually saw VHS lead by a point at 59-58 with just over two minutes remaining.

But Dunnellon, led by Tatiana Matthews, went on to close out the district final by scoring the night's final seven points — all coming by Matthews — en route to a 30-point game of her own. 

Evah Watterson added 19 points and made six 3-pointers for the Buffalo, who now await their postseason fate in hopes of earning an at-large bid into the state playoffs. 

"They did everything that we taught them to do," Porter said. "We just fell short tonight."



Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.