Lady Phoenix pull into a tie for second
♦ Sonoraville girls collect big win over NW Whitfield to tie the Lady Bruins for second
The top seed for the upcoming Region 7-4A girls basketball tournament was on the line Tuesday night when the Sonoraville girls played at Heritage in Ringgold.
The Lady Phoenix, by virtue of a 56-44 win over Northwest Whitfield Friday night before a large crowd at The Furnace, moved into a tie for second place with the Lady Bruins in the league and within one game of Heritage’s girls heading into their regular season finale Tuesday night. (Details of that game were not available at press time).
Heritage took an 8-1 district mark into that game while Sonoraville was 7-2 and the Lady Generals won the first meeting, 46-40, between the teams two weeks ago. There was also still a chance all three teams could finish tied for first place because if the Phoenix defeated Heritage and Northwest Whitfield knocked off Central Tuesday night, the three teams would all be 8-2.
There was also a possibility the Lady Phoenix could fall all the way to the third seed, despite 20 wins, because if they lost and Northwest won, then Heritage and Northwest would both be 8-2 and Sonoraville would drop to 7-3.
So it was the last night of the regular season, but there was still a lot to play for for everyone with only winless Cedartown sure of their seed as the Bulldogs will be the sixthseed even if they managed to defeat Southeast Whitfield Tuesday night. (Details of all those games were not available at press time).
Head coach Stephanie Caudell’s team threw a giant-sized wrench into the standings with their win over Northwest Whitfield, which was their fourth straight league win and put them in the picture for the top seed in the final week of scheduled play.
The Lady Bruins notched the first basket of the contest Friday night, but Sonoraville followed with 10 in a row and would never look back.
Senior forward Kayleigh Kelley scored the first seven on a putback, a 3, and a running layup before junior guard Brynley Walraven hit a 3 and the home team was up 10-2.
After a Northwest bucket, Walraven made another 3 and Sonoraville took a 13-6 lead after the first period.
NW Whitfield scored the first four points of the second period, but Sonoraville take a nine-point lead at 23-14 with just over two minutes left on a Walraven layup.
After NW made its first shot from behind the arch, Walraven added a layup and Sonoraville led 25-20 at the intermission.
Walraven had a three to start the second half, making it 28-20 but NW got as close as they would ever get with an 8-1 binge of its own to pull within 29-28 midway through the period.
But Walraven made a three, Ella Kate Walraven had three on bucket and a foul shot and Brynley added a layup for a 37-28 advantage and a Bruin timeout with 2:30 left in the third.
Four straight points by senior forward Taylor West gave them their first 10-point advantage at 41-31 in the final minute and they would take a 41-33 lead into the fourth frame.
Northwest Whitfield outscored Sonoraville 5-1 over the first four minutes of the final frame to get the Phoenix lead down to 42-38 with 3:40 on the clock, but Walraven began a decisive 7-0 run with a three that sophomore guard Erin Garland completed with a basket and two foul shots, giving them a 49-38 lead with just a minute left.
Brynley Walraven led Sonoraville with 16 points while Kelley had 12 for the Phoenix.
Sonoraville improved to an outstanding 20-4 on the season.