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By Nolan Imsande

ALBANY — For the first half of Tuesday night’s game against Griffin High School, it looked like the Westover girls were going to coast to an easy first-round victory.

That feeling quickly disappeared in the second half as the Lady Patriots were upset 59-51 at Westover’s Boston Garden Tuesday night in the first round of the Georgia High School Association Class AAAA state basketball tournament.

Griffin’s Andeija Puckett shook off a slow opening half to score 19 points and help her team spring the upset.

“It was a great first half,” Westover coach Lewis Smith said. “We came out flat in the second half … missed some easy shots, missed some assignments defensively, which got us in a hole.”

Puckett’s defense gave the Lady Patriots trouble early. The center blocked two shots in the opening minutes and hit a basket to give Griffin an early 7-2 lead. The quick run prompted Smith to call a timeout.

After the timeout, the Lady Patriots went on a 15-4 run. Westover’s Bryshea Jackson went right at Puckett in the first quarter. The Herald Super 6er scored eight points in the frame and helped her team build a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Patriots’ offense slowed down in the second quarter but Jackson stayed hot. She scored five of Westover’s nine second-quarter points. The other four came from Tiana Campbell.

Griffin’s interior offense started to get going in the second quarter with Puckett scoring five and Kelsey Smikes adding four.

Westover took a 28-21 led into halftime.

The opening minutes of the third quarter is when the momentum started to swing in Griffin’s favor.

The Lady Bears embarked on an 11-0 run that spanned the first four minutes. Daisya Reid keyed the run, scoring seven points including a three that gave her team a 32-28 lead. The Lady Patriots were outscored 18-5 and trailed by five at the end of the quarter.

Griffin continued to add to the lead to open the fourth. Back-to-back baskets by Reid and Nia Flowers extended their lead to 14 with under three minutes remaining in the game.

“Their size was a problem,” Smith said. “Not only on the defensive end, but it was just a problem trying to cover (Puckett), the initial pass to her and her rebounding the ball. Late in the game when we were pressing and trapping she could come out and relieve the pressure. We couldn’t quite defend her.”

After being held to just six points in the first half, Jackson scored 13 in the second half.

Despite being down double digits with three minutes left, Westover kept pecking away.

A layup by Jackson with 50 seconds left cut the score to five, but a free throw by Zacoria Berry and layup by Puckett iced the game.

Reid finished with 18 points.

Jackson led all scorers with 20 points while Campbell scored 13.

Griffin managed to hold Westover sharpshooter Nyla Perry to just five points.