LUBBOCK — Around this time last year, Eula coach Josh Fostel was lamenting a difficult region championship loss to Westbrook and hoping his then-young Pirates would get another chance to play for a state semifinal berth in 2025.

On Friday, the Lady Pirates got that opportunity, and they made the most of it with a workmanlike 40-30 win over regional rival Hermleigh at Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center.

Trailing 14-8 after a quarter and 17-14 at halftime, EHS found itself in the opposite situation it was in last year against Westbrook, when the Lady Pirates held a 24-19 halftime lead that it would stretch to nine points by the opening minute of the final period. But Fostel’s team hit its stride after the break, outscoring the Lady Cardinals 12-5 in the third quarter and 14-8 in the fourth to pull away for an emotional win and earn the program’s first trip to the state semis since 1983.