-
Aaliyah Anderson, right, heads to the basket against Greater Atlanta Christian's Myla Benton during the Class AAA state tournament game Monday in Norcross.
When you are playing on the road in the first round of the state tournament against a Top 10 opponent, the last thing you want to do is get off to a slow start.
That's what happened to the White County Lady Warriors Tuesday night in Norcross in the opening round of the Class AAA playoffs.
Greater Atlanta Christian, the No. 3 team in the final Class AAA poll, jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the opening quarter and the Lady Warriors could never recover in a 61-42 loss.
After neither team scored in the first two minutes of the game, GAC went on a 11-0 run with star guard Kaleigh Addie getting to the basket on four drives, including a three-point play.
The Lady Warriors finally got on the board with 4:04 left in the opening quarter when Maci Shelnut scored on a layup.
Addie quickly answered with another three-point play for a 14-2 lead. With 3:30 to go, Sydney Lucas drained a 3-pointer from the left side for a 17-2 lead.
After two free throws from Chesnee Freeman made it 17-4, Trinity Thomas answered with a basket off an offensive rebound for 19-4 lead.
Naomi Roberts and Aaliyah Andersen each had a basket in the final two minutes of the quarter to cut the deficit to 19-8.
“We had a lot of opportunities early and we didn't cash in on them,” WCHS head coach Jarvis Davenport said. “We had some open looks, some layups that we just didn't take advantage of. When you don't do that, and you're on the road, things start to snowball. We missed opportunities we needed to make to win on the road.”
Addie and Bolden combined for 10 points in the second quarter as the Lady Spartans lead grew to 31-16 at the break.
The Lady Warriors continued to battle in the second half, and played the Lady Spartans almost point-for-point over the final 16 minutes, with GAC finishing with a 30-26 second half advantage.
“Our defense was good all year,” Davenport said. “GAC is a good team. We played hard defensively, the girls played hard. We really didn't have our whole team together until late December. The girls battled through it and I couldn't ask anything more of them. Going to the playoff is not a given; you have to be in it to win it. You have to appreciate the moments when you make, and don't take it for granted. You give yourself an opportunity by just being in the playoffs.”
Freeman wrapped up her prep career with a team-high 10 points, while Anderson, Beckman, and Roberts each scored eight points.
Shelnut had four points, and Kinsey Dockery and Kylie Watkins each scored two points.
Addie had a game-high 28 points for the Lady Spartans, while Bolden finished with 15 points.
“We didn't shoot the ball well,” Davenport said about the final weeks of the season. “I don't know the cause of it or what happened. We tried to shoot more, tried to shoot through it, but sometimes you get in a shooting slump and it just happens.”
The loss was the final game for the team's three seniors – Freeman, Kendyl Cantrell and Kinsey Dockery.
“We are in a good spot; that's what I said I came here, I wanted to build some depth, build up the numbers,” Davenport said. “We have three great seniors going out the door and they made the playoffs every year. Made the Sweet 16, won a playoff game at home, they did things people walking around White County have never done. The drawback this year is we only had three or four that had major game experience so we had to get that experience under our belt for a bunch of young girls. They had to try and find their identity. We had some people hurt, people hurt, so we were having to change our rotation every week. It's tough to do, but they persevered and did the best they could do.”