Season ends for Lady Dragons in first round
Pepperell is unable to come back after falling behind early in a state tournament loss.
Pepperell’s season came to an end Tuesday night as the Lady Dragons suffered a 74-37 loss at Rabun County in the first round of the Class A Division I state tournament.
The Lady Cats got the better of Pepperell, using a 26-11 third quarter to pull away and never look back in the postseason win.
Pepperell (18-9) was stymied by the Lady Cats’ full court pressure that wouldn’t allow an easy inbounds, with Rabun County earning 19 steals in the game from just five players.
The Lady Dragons were able to climb back in the second quarter after being down 19-9 after the first, putting up 11 points in the second to only be down 16 at the half at 36-20.
In the third quarter the Lady Cats (24-3) pulled away to shut the door on a possible comeback as they poured in 26 points in the third stanza, going up 62-31 at the end of the period and only allowed six points in the fourth quarter to finish strong.
“We talked yesterday and today about the past few games we’ve taken a lot of punches,” Rabun County head coach Deedee Dillard said. “Tonight we really wanted to throw the first punch and get back to being the aggressor.”
The Pepperell zone defense allowed Rabun County shooters to find open shots, with the Lady Cats hitting 12 3-pointers throughout the game.
Junior Lucy Hood led the home team with 25 points, topping the 1,000 career points mark with free throws for her 24th and 25th point of the night.
“I’m so excited for her,” Dillard said. “She’s such a team player, you could see that in how all the girls responded. In the second half they started giving me ideas of plays to run to try to get her to those last few points.”
Rabun County now awaits its next opponent for the second round, the winner of the Paideia-oglethorpe County matchup. Langston Hughes girls 55,
Rome 36
The Lady Wolves battled hard
over the first two quarters to stay in the game, but Langston Hughes was able to methodically pull away in the second half to send Rome to a season-ending loss in the Class AAAAAA state tournament.
Rome (15-13) came out of the gates strong in the opening quarter and took a 15-14 lead over its No. 1-seeded opponent at the end of the period, but Langston
Hughes rallied to take a small advantage into the locker room at the half.
In the third the Lady Panthers (23-4) started to pull away and eventually led 41-27 going to the fourth where Rome couldn’t put together enough of a run to get back in the contest.
Miya Winston was the top scorer in the game for the Lady Wolves with 14 points,
and Mauriyah Griffin, Breana Griffin, Sada Williamson and Caitlyn Mcaboy contributed significantly as well.
Langston Hughes advances to the second round where it will host Habersham Central on Friday or Saturday.