Lady Trojans keep pace for region tourney berth
It may have been a stressful one, but last week was also a successful one for the Gordon Lee Lady Trojans, who claimed three important subregion victories - all at home - although two weren’t decided until the final seconds.
Gordon Lee girls 65, Bowdon 54
On Tuesday, the Lady Trojans led 20-10 after the first quarter and iced the game by outscoring the Lady Red Devils, 21-13, in the third.
Abby Dalton finished with 20 points for Gordon Lee, hitting three of her team’s seven 3-pointers. Gracie O’Neal and Molly Thomison each finished with 11 points.
Gordon Lee girls 36, Christian Heritage 35
more important than the final two. With seven seconds
remaining and the Lady Trojans down by one, Faith Alexander drove the length of the court, but finding Thomison open in the corner. Thomison got around one defender on the baseline, but when the defensive help arrived, she dropped a pass off to O’Neal, who filled the lane and dropped in the game-winner with one second to play.
Gordon Lee led 2312 at the break, but managed just three points in the third quarter and trailed 2726 going into the fourth.
Dalton had eight points in the win, while Alexander added seven.
than a minute still on the clock, but Alexander would get an open look from the corner and drained a 3-pointer to give the Lady Trojans a 44-42 lead with 29 seconds remaining.
The Lady Bulldogs were unable to convert on the other end and Trion was forced to foul Thomison with 10.3 seconds to go. The senior guard hit both clutch free throws to make it a four-point lead and Dalton deflected a long, upcourt pass by the Lady Bulldogs seconds later, thwarting Trion’s final scoring chance.
Dalton finished with 14 points, followed by Thomison with 10 and Lexie Clark with six.
“(Friday) night was an exceptionally physical game and it took a lot of out of us,” head coach Kevin McElhaney explained. “You could tell it (Saturday) because it was affecting our shots. We were missing some shots we’ve normally made all year and it put us a little behind the eight-ball. But you have to love this group of girls for the intestinal fortitude they showed to gut this win out.”
The win also kept
Gordon Lee (11-9 overall, 6-3 subregion) in the drivers’ seat for a spot in the upcoming Region 6-A tournament with five subregion games remaining.
The Lady Trojans are currently tied for third in the 6-A “A” standings. The entered the week a half-game behind Excel Christian (6-2), while Darlington (9-0) leads the way. Only the top four teams in each subregion will make the region tournament field when its starts at Darlington on Feb. 6.
The Lady Trojans are slated to entertain Darlington this Tuesday at 6 p.m. before they travel to Excel Christian on Friday night. The Lady Trojans will go on the road again Saturday for a game at Bowdon and the regular season wraps up with home games against Mt. ZionCarroll (Jan. 31) and North Cobb Christian (Feb. 3).
Region tournament winners are guaranteed berths in the Class A Public and Private School state tournaments, while the rest of the 24-team brackets will be filled based on the power ranking system.