Lady Warriors go cold in 2nd half
For the Gordon Central High School girls, it was a tale of two halves.
In the first two quarters, the Lady Warriors got out to a big lead and scored 29 points.
But in the last two quarters, they made just two baskets, scored 11 points and dropped a 53-40 decision to Model to close out the first half of the 2A Region 7 schedule.
The setback put them at 3-3 in the league and they hoped to get back on track Friday night when they began the second part of their Region slate on the road at Coosa (details were not available at press time).
Both Gordon Central and Model were pressing and trapping defensively full-court and in the half-court the entire game and both teams were able to solve it at times, but there were also plenty of moments where they didn’t.
Gordon Central senior forward Cassie Chastain got her team off to a good start, scoring the first four points of the game.
She made a foul shot and then put back a missed shot and made another charity toss to put the hosts up 4-0 two minutes into the game.
Model banked in a three-point shot for its first points of the game, but Chastain followed with a drive to make it 6-3. Senior guard Brooke Wilson added two foul shots to make it 8-3 before the Blue Devils made a free throw to cut the gap to 8-4.
But Wilson hit a trey from the right corner and a minute later, hit another one off a feed from Chastain, giving the home team a 14-4 lead at the end of the first period.
Chastain made a layup ahead of the pack to start the second quarter and give the Warriors their biggest lead of the game at 16-4 forty seconds in.
From there, however, the Blue Devils picked it up offensively and they would finish with a 23-point quarter to sway the momentum to their side.
After the team in white pushed the lead to 12, Model hit the first of four threepoint shots they made in the second quarter, closing the gap to 16-7.
From there, Model responded with a 14-6 run that included two more of those four three-point shots.
Gordon Central senior Kim Passley had all six of those points on three nifty moves around the basket, but the Lady Warriors’ lead shrank to 22-18 midway through the quarter.
They looked like they would weather the story with a 5-0 run thanks to a Raniyah Ellis free throw and putback and then a Passley lay-in that gave them a 27-18 lead with two minutes left in the half that forced a Model timeout.
But he Blue Devils hit a long shot from beyond the arch out of the timeout to begin a 9-2 flurry that saw them close to within a basket at halftime.
They notched eight straight to slice the margin to 27-26 before Ellis scored off an inbounds play for a Gordon Central three-point lead at 29-26, but the Blue Devils made a free throw with 1.5 to play until halftime
to trail by just a basket.
The visitors took control of the game in the third quarter as Gordon Central failed to make a shot from the field in that time, instead connecting on just six foul shots.
A Chastain foul shot opened the scoring in the third and Wilson added two more freebies for a 32-27 lead with just over five minutes left in the frame.
But the Devils went on a 7-0 spree to take the lead for good.
First they nailed a long three to pull within a basket and then freshman August Betz made back-to-back layins off nice assists to first tie the game at 32 and then
give her team a 34-32 lead.
A Chastain foul shot closed it to 34-33 but the Blue Devils hit another three and then made a shot in the lane to take a five-point lead at 39-34 with 39.6 to go in the third.
Chastain made another free throw with 5.3 left and Model led 39-35 to begin the fourth period.
Ellis scored a basket to begin the fourth and trim the deficit to 39-37, but Model came back with a 6-0 run to open the advantage to 45-37 with five minutes to play.
Wilson made a free throw and then Passley hit a short shot in the lane, cutting the Warriors’ deficit to 45-40 with 2:41 showing, but the
home team would not score again.
As the first half of the Region schedule came to an end, Fannin County, which is the number two ranked 2A team in the state with a 15-2 record, finished with a 6-0 record and held a two-game lead over Pepperell, which is second at 4-2.
Gordon Central is then a game off the pace at 3-3 while Model improved to 2-4 with the victory. Dade County and Chattooga are also each 2-4 with all four of those teams looking to get hot and raise their seeding by season’s end.
The Lady Warriors are now 9-7 overall on the year.