PORTSMOUTH—The Isle of Wight girls’ basketball team will advance to the state tournament despite a 39-28 loss to Portsmouth Christian in the semifinal round of the Metro Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Lady Chargers came into the game as the No. 3 seed with a 12-4 record in the MAC. Portsmouth Christian came in as the No. 2 seed with a matching record.

The No. 12 seeded Lady Chargers will travel to play No. 5 seed Nanesmond-Suffolk Academy at 6 p.m. Feb. 26 for the first round of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II State Tournament.

“We had a tough time scoring Friday night,” said IWA Coach Chris Hooper. “We were down 12-1 in the first and bounced back in the second.”

The Lady Chargers went in to the locker room trailing 18-14 at the half.

“They played good defense on us, they contained us and we just weren’t able to get the shots we needed,” Hooper said.

Sophomore Brooke Olsavicky led IWA with 10 points, sophomore Gabriella Hooper added 7.

Gabriella Hooper was named to the all MAC team and Chris Hooper was named MAC co-coach of the year with John Perkins of Williamsburg Christian.