One and done
Stephens County takes out Generals in state opener
Back in November, the Heritage Generals football team travelled to Toccoa for a Class AAAA football playoff opener and stunned Stephens County with a 37-30 victory, ending the Indians’ season.
A little over three months later, the Stephens County basketball team got its school’s revenge.
The Generals saw an early lead disappear after a huge run by the home team, who went on to a 74-38 victory in the opening round of the Class AAAA tournament.
Stephens County (20-7) will now travel to undefeated and No. 1-ranked Upson-Lee in the next round, while Heritage (20-9) saw its season come to a close.
Heritage led 13-7 and had designs on another upset over an SCHS team. But the hosts took control for good with a 24-0 run and never looked back.
Nunu Walker had 24 points to pace the Indians, while Luke Grant had 10 to lead the Generals. Seth Carter and Blake Bryan finished with seven each for Heritage.
“Obviously we wanted to finish more competitively today, but it was a successful year,” Heritage head coach Kevin Terry said. “Returning only two guys who had significant amounts of varsity playing time last year, we reloaded fairly well to the tune of our third 20-win season in a row.
“This wasn’t the most skilled team we’ve had in nine years at Heritage, but it was the most physically-tough. These guys have a lot of heart and they compete every night.”
There is so much about the state playoffs that are different.
Teams face unfamiliar opponents, sometimes in unfamiliar gyms, with unfamiliar referees. The playoffs also bring about a much different and sometimes unfamiliar atmosphere, even for the home teams, knowing what’s at stake in each win-orgo-home contest.
But for all the unfamiliarity that surrounds the state tournament, one constant remains the same for every team in the field - you have to be able to score in order to win.
And for the second straight postseason, the Heritage Lady Generals couldn’t score enough.
A year after a 4644 upset loss at home to Arabia Mountain, the Navy-and-Red struggled from the floor once again on Friday and dropped a 48-45 decision to the Madison County Red Raiders, who came to Ringgold sporting a sub-.500 record.
“Same as last year,” said a dejected head coach Eddie Bryant said afterward. “If you can’t hit four and five-footers, you’re not going to win any games.
“I thought we rebounded much better in the second half, but we just didn’t hit many shots when we needed them and that was basically it. We were playing good defense, but ultimately, you have to put the ball in the basket.”
Despite having just eight players in uniform, it was the Red Raiders who appeared to be the more confident team to start the game. Madison County (14-14) opened the game by scoring the first seven points. Heritage would miss all of its shots in the first 3:30, including a pair of lay-ups, setting an unwelcome tone for the night.
But Emily Wiley would sink a pair of free throws with 4:30 left and the Lady Generals appeared to have righted the ship over the remainder of the first quarter. They ended the period on a 9-0 run and they scored the first four points of the second quarter to take what would be their biggest lead of the night.
However, Heritage would get outrebounded more than 2-to-1 in the first half and the Lady Generals seemingly didn’t have an answer for sophomore center Jordan Bailey. Not only was the 6-footer causing problems in the paint, she also stepped back
and drained a pair of 3-pointers that helped the visitors rally to tie the game at 20 going into halftime.
Heritage (25-4) would redirect its defensive focus in the third quarter toward neutralizing Bailey and the plan worked for a while. Ansley Bice would hit a big 3-pointer at the 3:50 mark to put Heritage up by five, but Bethany Fortson would respond with a three and Bailey got loose on the low block for a bucket to cap a 7-1 run that gave the Red Raiders a 34-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.
They would stretch the lead to five after another bucket by Bailey with 6:05 to go, but the Lady Generals came right back with a 11-2 run. Bice drained threes on back-toback possessions and Wiley’s put-back with 3:21 to go gave them the momentum and a 45-41 lead.
Heritage, however, would not score again.
Sydney Armstrong, Madison’s other paint presence, scored on a lay-up and Bailey hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:54 to play to cut the Lady Generals’ lead down to one. Heritage would run nearly a minute off the clock on its ensuing possession before the Red Raiders were forced to foul.
But Heritage couldn’t connect on the one-and-bonus attempt with 42.9 seconds left. The Red Raiders lobbed the ball into Bailey, who drew three defenders before she dumped it down low to Armstrong. Armstrong connected under the basket for the lay-in with 23 ticks left to give her team a onepoint lead.
After a Heritage timeout, Bice was able to slash through the lane, looking to feed the ball around Bailey and into Wiley, who was filling the opposite side of the lane, seemingly unguarded. But lightning-fast guard A’dryanna Maxwell appeared out of nowhere to intercept the pass and drew a foul with 8.4 seconds to go.
Maxwell made both free throws to boost the lead to three and a potential game-tying 3-pointer for the Lady Generals missed its mark as the final buzzer sounded.
Maxwell had 19 points for Madison County, while Bailey finished with 18.
“Our focus every game is to pound the ball inside,” said head coach Dan Lampe, whose Red Raiders do not have a single senior listed on their MaxPreps.com roster. “If we get threepointers, that’s great, but we’re looking to get the ball inside. That’s our goal. Heritage is well-coached and has great players. We were really fortunate to come out of here with a win.”
Wiley and Bice had 13 points each for Heritage. Smith added eight, Harvey six and Ludy five in their final game for the Navy-andRed.
“It’s been an unbelievable run for our seniors,” Bryant said. “They’ve been great for our program and done everything we’ve asked them to do. They’ll do well in life.”