Lady Warriors repeat as Best of Preps champions
The average margin of victory wasn’t the same as last year’s, but the ultimate result turned out to be the same.
For the second straight season, the LFO Lady Warriors closed out a calendar year by going 3-0 to win the Best of Preps Holiday Tournament championship.
After an opening-round win over Meigs County and a semifinal victory against Signal Mountain, the red and black-clad Lady Warriors — the only Peach State team in the girls’ field at Chattanooga State — punctuated their tourney title with a win over Chattanooga private school stalwart Baylor.
“We really just wanted to represent north Georgia and make the community proud,” LFO head coach Dewayne Watkins explained, adding that he felt his team was able to improve in each of its three tournament games. “Baylor was a very strong team. We had three tough opponents and I believe this tournament will help us to prepare for the region and, hopefully, the state tournament.
“Defensively, we just want to continue to improve and look to add some offensive sets down the stretch.”
LFO 54, MEIGS COUNTY 43
A big defensive stretch in the first half proved to be the key for LFO this past Wednesday morning.
The Lady Warriors found themselves in an 11- 11 deadlock with the traditional small school Volunteer State power early on, but held the Lady Tigers to just two points in the second quarter to build a 23-13 lead at halftime.
They would keep Meigs within arm’s length the rest of the way as the Lady Warriors’ two seniors, Christina Collins and Angel Simmons, led the offense with 16 points apiece. Simmons went 7 of 8 at the free throw line and helped put it away by making 5 of 6 from the line in fourth quarter.
Christen Collins and Mylee Howard scored five points apiece. Ziara Thompson and Zoey Gray-martin each had four points, Kaile Richiez and Mercedes Thompson both scored two.
LFO 55, SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 42
Signal Mountain’s height could have been a problem for LFO.
LFO’S relentless defensive pressure was definitely a problem for Signal Mountain.
The Lady Warriors enjoyed a 20-2 first-half run on Thursday afternoon and moved on to the tournament title game by defeating the Lady Eagles, who came into the matchup with a 9-3 record following a 75-34 opening-round throttling of GPS the day before.
Signal Mountain scored the first three points of the game, but the Lady Warriors would get on track shortly thereafter.
LFO’S speed in the full court press led to several steals and turnovers, not to
mention some rushed shots when the Lady Eagles were able to get into their halfcourt sets.
The defensive pressure allowed the Lady Warriors to close out the quarter on a 13-2 run and they would score the first seven points
of the second period. A late three by Simmons put LFO up 27-13 as the teams walked to the locker room.
One final third-quarter run would do the trick as LFO reeled off a 16-4 run over the first 4:15 of the third. They took a 19-point lead into the
fourth before hitting cruise control the rest of the way.
Simmons finished with 18 points and Christina Collins had 16 in the victory. Gray-martin added nine points and Christen Collins chipped in with eight, while Mercedes Thompson chipped in with four.
LFO 64, BAYLOR 48
In the finals on Friday night, LFO built a first-quarter cushion. Simmons scored nine of her 11 points in the first period as the Lady Warriors jumped out to a 17-8 lead before taking a 27-20 advantage into halftime.
Then the Collins sisters simply took over.
Christina scored 14 points in the third, while younger sister Christen had eight as the duo combined for 22 of LFO’S 24 points in the quarter. Meanwhile, the Lady Warriors also cranked up their trademark defensive intensity and held the Red Raiders to just nine in the period to open up a commanding 51-29 lead going into the fourth.
Baylor’s high-scoring duo of Hadleigh Worton and Bella White combined to shoot 16 free throws in the final stanza, but a pair of inside buckets by Gray-martin and a big field goal by Mercedes Thompson helped keep Baylor at bay.
Christina Collins had a game-high 26 points, including an 8 of 8 performance at the free throw line. She was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Christen Collins went for 15 and Gray-martin added six, while three by Thompson, two from Trinity Heinrich and one by Richiez filled out the scoring column for the Lady Warriors, now 13-0.
LFO will get back to Region 6-3A play on Friday of this week with a game at Ridgeland.