Mortimer Jordan senior Kaylan Hines goes up for a layup against Boaz in Pete Mathews Coliseum. 

JACKSONVILLE—It was a sleepy start in Jacksonville, but the Mortimer Jordan girls basketball team came out of bed a little quicker than Boaz in the Class 5A Northeast Regional semifinals on Tuesday morning.

The 42-28 win sends Mortimer Jordan to the regional finials for the first time in program history, according to the team. The Blue Devils (25-7) will face Arab on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Pete Mathews Coliseum.

“I have a lot of confidence in my teammates and my coach and myself. I know that when we play together, we’re really hard to beat,” said Mortimer Jordan senior Kaylan Hines, who went for 10 points and three assists in the win.

First-year head coach Kelly Robinson likes the way his team responded early under unfamiliar circumstances.

“We went over to Oxford yesterday: spent the day, went to a movie, spent the night in a hotel so our drive was only about 30 minutes this morning as opposed to two hours and I think that paid off for us because we got off to a good start, and that’s key when you’re in a big arena with the season on the line,” said Robinson. “Getting off to a good start I thought really helped us.”

His girls ran out to a 10-0 start to open the game, and led 10-2 through one quarter of play. Junior Anna Boger went to the top of the key for a pair of early 3-pointers, the second of which swelled Mortimer Jordan’s lead to 16-4 with 5:38 remaining in the second frame. Boger would finish with a double-double (10 points and as many rebounds).

“It made me feel pretty confident. It was lit,” Boger said with a smile stretched across her face.

The Blue Devils went with pressure defense for much of the contest and it paid off more times than not. Boaz struggled to handle the full-court press, ending the day with 16 turnovers. 10 of those came in the first half, which ended at 23-10 in favor of Mortimer Jordan.

The third quarter started slowly, but Mortimer Jordan finished strong. With two minutes left in the frame, Nicole Goldsmith secured a loose ball and went straight up off the window. Mackenzie Watson came back down for a offensive putback before Hines bounced an assist to Boger in transition for a 29-15 cushion with less than a minute left in the period.

Through the final eight minutes of play, they simply made free throws. Thanks to Hines, Goldsmith, Boger and Jadyn Allen, Mortimer Jordan went 11-of-13 from the stripe during the fourth quarter. They finished the game 20-of-24 (83 percent) from the free-throw line.

After the game Robinson praised the effort he’s getting from seniors Kaylan Hines, Nicole Goldsmith and Alyssa King: “Alyssa King is a steady, under-the-radar girl that has been playing her whole high school career and if we don’t have [her], we aren’t here.”

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.