Pressing matters
Darlington and Armuchee earn state berths; Coosa falls short of an upset.
Darlington and Armuchee earn state berths; Coosa falls short of an upset.
SUMMERVILLE — A season’s worth of sweat and practice was put to the test for Region 7-AA’s girls’ basketball teams in an all-or-nothing setting Monday evening.
And even for those who gave their all, nothing was guaranteed.
The first day of the region tournament put the spotlight on 7-AA’s No. 2 and lower seeds as they battled it out at Chattooga High School’s gym to see who would join top seed Model in the Class AA state playoffs.
Darlington and Armuchee each punched their tickets to the region semifinals. The Lady Tigers recovered from a sluggish start to beat Gordon Lee 58-41 and the Lady Indians kept a few steps ahead of Chattooga to win 64-28.
Meanwhile, No. 6 seed Coosa saw a golden opportunity at pulling off the tournament’s first upset slip away as the Lady Eagles came back from a 12-0 deficit in the first quarter to lead Dade County by six heading into the final frame only to fall 58-47 to the No. 3seeded Lady Wolverines.
“To be close (to going to state) two years in a row is tough,” said Coosa coach Chad Cooper, whose team lost to Darlington in the opening round of last year’s region tournament. “But if they keep playing with this kind of effort, it’s going to get better, and they have throughout this season.”
The boys get their turn today as Coosa takes on Gordon Lee at 4 p.m., followed by Darlington and Armuchee at 5:30 p.m., and Model taking on Dade County at 7 p.m.
Here is a closer look at the first three games of the Region 7-AA basketball tournament:
Darlington girls 58,
Gordon Lee 41
The No. 4 seed Lady Tigers hit 17 of 21 foul shots in the fourth quarter, including 13-of-16 in the final 1:55, to pull away from a hard-nosed No. 5 seed Gordon Lee.
“We’ve lost three games on free throws this year and each time it’s been less than five points and we’ve shot less than 50 percent at the line,” Darlington coach Josh Hembree said. “It’s something the girls have really worked hard on and it showed tonight.”
An early 9-4 lead slipped away for the Lady Tigers (18-8) and Gordon Lee (11-15) roared to life in the second, taking a 20-18 lead before a last-second 3pointer by Sydney Seymour sent Darlington into the locker room with a 21-20 advantage.
The two teams traded runs in the third period but the Lady Tigers put together a 9-2 stretch to start the fourth and rolled from there.
Anna Claire Atha led Darlington with 28 points while Keara Evans added 17. The Lady Tigers will open up Friday’s competition at Model with a semifinal matchup with the host Lady Blue Devils, who finished the regular season undefeated.
Armuchee girls 64,
Chattooga 28
A 19-2 third quarter provided No. 2 seed Armuchee the boost needed to overtake the host Lady Indians.
Chattooga, led by Rachel Nichols’ 10 points, never got closer than 12 points after the first five minutes while Armuchee’s Mattie Chapman scored a game-high 16.
Armuchee (16-8) displayed their depth as Elizabeth Newberry had 13 points, Livia Skinner finished with 10 and Rebekah Hammond had nine.
No. 7 seed Chattooga (3-22) trailed only 8-4 with two and a half minutes left in the opening quarter, but 3s from Skinner and Hammond spurned Armuchee on a 10-3 run to round out the frame.
Armuchee will take on Dade County in Friday’s second semifinal at 7 p.m. at Model High School.
Dade County girls
58, Coosa 47
Three days after losing to Dade County by four points in their regular season finale, Coosa’s
Lady Eagles put in a heart-filled effort to try and complete the task but ran into problems late in the game.
Dade County (18-8) went 12-of-10 at the line down the stretch and
The Lady Wolverines, behind a 34-point night from sophomore point guard Tori Reed, outscored Coosa 25-8 in the fourth quarter to cap the comeback win.
Coosa (7-17) had led 39-33
after three quarters, starting out down 12-0 after the first four and a half minutes of the game and slowly climbing its way back.
The game was tied at 19 apiece at halftime and the Lady Eagles dropped four 3s in the third quarter to help them get to their biggest lead of the night.
“The biggest thing we talked about was just fighting through and leaving it all on the court,” Cooper said. “I’m proud of the way the we responded.”
Senior Perry Shumate paced Coosa with 13 points while Cassie McFather had 11, including three 3s.