The season came to an end for Benicia High’s girls basketball team Tuesday night after a 64-29 loss at Florin in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

Florin (19-8), seeded No. 7 in the tournament after finishing third in the Metropolitan League, outscored No. 10 seed Benicia (14-9) in every quarter, including 40-16 in the second half.

“The girls played hard, but we just could not make a shot,” Benicia head coach Randy Saitz said afterward. “And we couldn’t get around their two big girls.”

Those two big girls were Florin seniors Rhianna Jackson and Desiree’ Dedrick, who combined for 24 points and 25 rebounds. When the duo wasn’t scoring inside, teammate Jikara Sellers was scoring outside, making four 3-pointers on her way to 16 points. Freshman Ikeysha Smith led all scorers with 19 points.

Jackson and Dedrick were a dominant presence on the defensive end of the floor as well, shutting down Benicia in the paint and forcing outside shots. The Lady Panthers made only three 3-pointers and had only 19 points after three quarters.

“We just couldn’t get around their big girls,” Saitz said.

The Lady Panthers started four sophomores and a junior and sorely missed senior Michelle Li, who missed the final six games of the season after suffering a knee injury. Benicia went 1-5 without their season-leading scorer.

Sophomore Kameron Hatcher had 11 points and was the only Lady Panther in double figures. Calei Mendoza added seven points, Emma Ward had five points and Elizabeth Sweeney had four.

Florin takes on No. 2 seed Inderkum on Thursday in the quarterfinals while Benicia must wait until next December.

“With the girls I have coming back, if I can get just one really big girl – like a 6-footer – underneath then I think we’ll be real good next season,” Saitz said.

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