Lakeview girls edge out Heritage for NGAC tourney title
Saturday’s North Georgia Athletic girls’ championship game wasn’t so much a basketball contest as it was an all-out slugfest.
On a day when both the Heritage Lady Generals and the Lakeview Lady Warriors missed a lot of shots and suffered a lot of turn- overs, both forced and unforced, it was the host team who made just enough plays in the end.
For the first time in a number of seasons, the girls’ tournament championship trophy will rest in a case at Lakeview Middle School after the Lady Warriors gutted out a 33-31 decision over their Catoosa County rivals.
“Like I told them, today wasn’t going to be about basketball,” Lakeview head coach Ragan Rogers said. “Today was going to be a fight and it was a fight we had to win. This (game) was about heart and dedication and doing what we’re supposed to be doing.
“I told them from the beginning, it was going to have to be defense because defense wins championships. I told them that if we played defense, I was confident we could win.”
With both teams playing tough, physical defense, and with both teams struggling from the floor, Heritage held a slim 12-10 lead with just over two minutes to play in the opening half. However, Lakeview would earn some much-needed momentum going into halftime.
Katelyn Bowman knocked in a 19-foot jumper to tie the score at 12 and Christina Collins, after an incredibly athletic play which resulted in her blocking a shot at the opposite end of the floor, drove the lane for a runner to give the Lady Warriors their first lead of the game with 59 seconds to play.