Heritage girls reach state quarterfinals

RINGGOLD, Ga. — The Heritage girls’ basketball players might be in uncharted waters when it comes to advancing in the state playoffs, but based on the poise and confidence they’ve shown in the first two rounds of this season’s GHSA Class AAAA tournament they seem more like seasoned veterans.

That’s why when the buzzer sounded at the end of the Lady Generals’ 53-42 second-round victory Thursday over visiting Oconee County, the Region 6 champs celebrated exactly the way they had played throughout the game, like they expected to win.

“I feel like it doesn’t really have to sink in,” said Emily Wiley, one of the Lady Generals’ six seniors and the region player of the year. “I feel like we knew we were going to get here. We feel like our team still has more in us. We’re where we believe we belong.”

Less than a week after getting the program’s first-ever state playoff win in a 53-51 nail-biter, the Lady Generals (24-5) found themselves in yet another battle to keep their season alive. After a 12-0 run to end the first quarter gave them an 18-6 lead, it looked as if they might have an easier time of it against the Lady Warriors (17-13).

Oconee County — the threeseed from Region 8 — changed from a man-to-man defense to a zone at the start of the second period, however, and Heritage had difficulty adjusting, scoring just six points in the quarter. Wiley carried Heritage in the first half. After scoring her team’s first nine points of the game, she was the only Lady General to score in the second quarter, and she had 15 of her game-high 24 points before the break as Heritage led by eight. The Lady Warriors pulled close several times in the second half, only to have Heritage respond to each challenge. While the Lady Generals never trailed in the game, the margin got as close as two points early in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t until Haley Phillips drained a 3-pointer with 2:35 remaining to put her team up by eight that the Lady Generals began to pull away. Ansley Bice scored nine of her 21 points in the fourth quarter, including six free throws in the final minute. Heritage was 12-of-16 from the charity stripe in the final period.

“When we’re in between the lines, everything outside those lines is white noise,” Bice said. “We stay focused on what our coaches tell us and talk to each other. I’m just glad I get to do this with this group of seniors.”

“This team, all year, just doesn’t get very high or very low,” said Heritage coach Eddie Bryant. “With six seniors, it’s kind of businesslike. But I think they’ll go home and start thinking about it and think, ‘My gosh, the elite eight.’”

The Lady Generals will have a challenge ahead, as they likely will face the top team in AAAA, Carver, at home next week in the quarterfinals.

“I feel like we knew we were going to get here. We feel like our team still has more in us. We’re where we believe we belong.”

– EMILY WILEY, LADY GENERALS SENIOR