FUEL TO RETURN
Rockmart’s girls fall to Southwest-Macon on a last-second shot in the semifinals of the Class AA state playoffs.
MILLEDGEVILLE — A last-second shot saw the Rockmart girls’ hopes at a state championship game appearance come to an end, but a historic and record-setting season for the Lady Jackets sent the team to new heights.
Playing in the Final Four of the GHSA state basketball playoffs for the first time in program history, the Lady Jackets couldn’t hold back a late rally from SouthwestMacon this past Saturday in a 5452 loss at Georgia College’s Centennial Center.
“It’s been one heck of a run,” Rockmart coach Andre Clark said. “We came into this season with expectations to defend the region title. That was our goal. Once we defended the region title, we got to thinking ‘Hey, why not us? We can make a run.’”
Rockmart (23-7) won its second straight Region 7-AA championship and junior Keyarah Berry became the school’s all-time leading scorer, all while continuing to add to the program’s recent firsts.
Southwest’s Stangious Alford hit the game-winning shot with
less than one second on the clock to rally her team to the win and send them to the championship game.
“There were a lot of young girls on the court,” Clark said. “I think the pressure just got to them, and they were doing uncharacteristic things. We were rushing because the style of their play sped us up.”
Rockmart took a 14-12 lead at the start of the second quarter and didn’t give it up until there was less than a minute left to play when Southwest went ahead 52-51 on a basket by Alford.
Berry hit the back end of a trip to the foul line with 26 seconds to go to tie the game at 52 apiece. Southwest took possession and ran off enough time on the clock for Alford to take the game-winning shot.
Alford finished with 23 points. Her teammates Avrie Grayer and Shygeria Williams scored 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Southwest (25-3) will play the winner of Saturday’s later matchup between Douglas and Early County in the Class AA state championship game Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Macon Centreplex.
Clark said he expected to be successful against the Lady Patriots, but a big stage put a lot of pressure on Rockmart’s young team.
“We thought that this was a good matchup for us,” Clark said. “Even though they’re big inside, we didn’t think they could really defend us. I’m at a loss for words right now. We should be moving on, but we just didn’t handle the moment right. We’ve just got to come back.”
The Lady Jackets, who had won 12 straight games coming into Saturday’s contest, led by as much as 11 points in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Patriots closed out the game with a 16-3 run.
After trailing 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Jackets surged ahead in the second quarter while keeping the Lady Patriots from hitting a field goal until one minute until halftime. Rockmart outscored Southwest 13-6 in the quarter to take a 2418 lead into the break.
Berry tallied only five points in the opening period, but finished with 29 points, including three 3-pointers. Megan Little scored 14 points for the Lady Jackets, and Emma Evans finished out her basketball career at Rockmart with eight points, while shooting 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Little also knocked down a key 3-pointer with 3:21 left in the first quarter that gave the Lady Jackets their first lead of the game.
With only three seniors on this year’s team — Evans, Ambria Daniels and Aubrey Huggins — Clark said he’s confident in his team’s chances to pick up where they left off and continue the success of the program.
“I want to meet with each of them just to give them what they need to move forward,” Clark said. “The sky’s the limit with this team. I think we can make another run. We’ve just got to stay focused and don’t let this thing affect us too badly. This should be the motivation to get back.”
The Lady Jackets got to the Final Four thanks to a big win in the quarterfinals. The girls played in the GHSA Elite Eight for just the second time in program history, the Lady Jackets took control early and then fought off a powerful Vidalia team to win 62-57 on the road.
The host Lady Indians were outscored 27-17 in the third quarter, and Rockmart (23-6) led 46-31 heading into the final eight minutes. That’s when Vidalia put the pressure on the Lady Jackets and tried to stage a comeback, but it was too late.
Berry scored 37 points, while Little added 13 and sophomore Logan Adams had nine.