Strong start lifts Lady Devils to 7-AA finals
REGION 7-AA SEMIFINALS: Model girls 65, Darlington 49
The last time Darlington’s and Model’s girls met on the basketball court it was the closest the Lady Blue Devils had come to losing a game.
Playing in the Region 7AA semifinals on their home floor Friday, they came out of the gate with a bit more intensity.
AnnaGrace Turrentine hit two 3-pointers to kick off a 13-3 opening run for Model and Victaria Saxton had a double-double in a 65-49 win over the Lady Tigers.
It marked the top-seeded Lady Blue Devils’ 25th consecutive win and earned them a chance to defend their region title.
They’ll face Armuchee tonight at 7 p. m. in the championship game at Model’s Woodard Gymnasium.
Darlington, who was paced by standout junior Anna Claire Atha’s 29 points, will take on Dade County at 2 p.m. to determine the third- and fourthplace teams in the region.
The Lady Tigers ( 18- 9) clawed their way to get within six in the fourth quarter before a furious 13- 0 run by the Lady Blue Devils put them up 55-36 with 2:46 to play.
Saxton, who finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds, had 11 points in the run, and teammate Moe Welch went 7- of- 8 at the line down the stretch.
Friday’s game was the first for Model (25-0) after a 55-51 win over Darlington on Feb. 2.
“I was so proud of our girls’ focus coming in after being off for 10 days,” Model coach Sally Echols said. “Sometimes that’s a hard adjustment to make.”
“But our focus in the first gave us so much momentum to overcome what Darlington came out with in the second half,” Echols added.
Model led 33- 17 at the half but Darlington came back out and pulled off a 10-2 run in the third quarter that got them within 10, 37- 27, and went into the fourth down 39-17.
“We worked ourselves into a big hole early that was tough to climb out of against a good team,” Darlington coach Josh Hembree said. “But we did a good job of competing, especially to get it back to where we did.”
Atha and Jody Cox went to the line early on in the final frame and made it 42- 36 before the Lady Devils took to the game plan of finding Saxton inside for her two- and- ahalf minute run that set Model up for the win.
“There’s no question Darlington’s a good team and Anna Claire is unbelievable,” Echols said. “You have to work every second of the game to defend them and defend them well, and I felt like we did that.”
Atha had 16 of her 29 points in the fourth quarter, and Keara Evans finished with 11 points. Each had two 3-pointers in the game.