The third time told the tale.

After splitting two regular-season meetings with Rickards — a 21-point win in December followed by a 35-30 loss that handed them their third defeat of the year — the Fort Walton Beach girls basketball team earned the last word Friday night, grinding out a 38-33 victory to advance to the Elite 8 for the first time since Coach Mercedez Claybrone’s first season in 2021.

“We want to win. This team, they deserve it, they worked hard, they wanted this matchup, and they showed up,” Claybrone said.

It was a defensive slugfest from the opening tip, and while Fort Walton remained in control for much of the game, nothing came easy.

Harmony Lee opened the scoring with a 3-pointer to put the Lady Vikings up 3-2. From there, Alexis Smith and De’Asia West found the basket before Fort Walton closed the first quarter on a 6-2 run. Smith opened the second quarter with a bucket, then Anecia Stallworth turned a steal into a fast-break score to make it 14-6. Amaya Johnson hit a 3-pointer for Rickards, but the Lady Vikings answered with an 8-0 run to close the half, taking a commanding 22-9 lead into the break.

Then Rickards came alive.

Kindal Harrell sparked an 11-0 Lady Raiders run to open the third quarter with a steal and a score, pulling Rickards right back into the game. But Abria Jackson stopped the bleeding with a bucket with 3:55 left in the quarter, then hit one of two from the free-throw line. Serenity Douze answered to make it a one-possession game, but Jackson responded again, and Fort Walton took a 27-22 lead into the fourth.

The Lady Vikings got a lift early in the fourth when Aniyah Boyd grabbed a rebound, pushed it up the floor, and the ball found its way to Chloe Burgos, who drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to eight. Amirahs Hayes cut it to six with a bucket, and the score sat at 30-24 for a stretch before Jayla Hills made it 30-26. Smith was fouled and sank both free throws to push it back to 32-26, but Hayes came right back with a steal on Boyd and a layup to make it 32-28.

From there, the Lady Vikings’ defense clamped down. Fort Walton outscored Rickards 6-5 the rest of the way to seal the 38-33 win.

• With Niceville’s loss to Bartram Trail on Friday, Fort Walton is now the last team standing from Okaloosa County.

“We want to represent Okaloosa County. We wish luck to everyone in the playoffs and hope they’ll root for us, but now we know we’ve really got to represent the 850,” Claybrone said.

“We’ve just got to bring it home for Okaloosa County and show them who’s the real team around here,” Smith added.

This Friday, the Lady Vikings will travel to Jacksonville for what has felt like an inevitable matchup all season: a date with Bishop Kenny, which survived a 45-43 scare against Ribault on Friday night. Fort Walton is determined to avoid a repeat of last year’s 36-point loss.

“We knew as soon as the brackets were lined up, we knew it was going to be them and whoever else and we wanted to be the whoever else,” Claybrone said.

“We definitely want to come back and get our revenge on them,” Smith said.

“We’re ready,” Jackson added.