GISA GIRLS STATE TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP: TAE girls begin state title defense with ‘W’; Lady Knights advance in Class AAA
Photo by Danny Aller
Matt Stewart
DAWSON — Eventually the turnovers bit back.
The Heritage School, gunning for a huge upset of back-to-back GISA Class A state champion Terrell Academy, relented under the pressure of the Lady Eagles defense Wednesday, 53-38, in the first round of the GISA Class AA girls state playoffs.
Heritage didn’t go without a fight, though. The Region 4-AA No. 4 seed Lady Hawks took a 26-24 lead with five straight points to start the third quarter. They trailed by just three at halftime, even after committing 25 turnovers in the first half.
“We shot horrible,” Lady Eagles head coach Keith Jones said. “I don’t know any other way to describe it.”
Terrell Academy (21-5), the No. 1 seed from Region 3-AA, never seemed worried, despite struggling from the field. After moving to Class AA this season, the Lady Eagles still carry the swagger of two-time defending state champs.
“Nah, we had it,” said Terrell junior forward Alex Barfield, who finished with a team-high 12 points, eight rebounds and nine steals. “It’s just one of those bumps in the road. You’re going to have one. I’d rather have it in the first game than later.”
After Heritage (9-17) took its only lead of the second half, the Lady Eagles ripped off a 14-1 run in the third thanks to seven points in the quarter from eighth grader Marilauren Farr.
Farr finished with 11 points and five boards in limited action.
“She played well,” Jones said of Farr. “She got out there and went to work on the boards.”
Terrell Academy forced 40 turnovers on the night and advances to the Elite Eight Friday at Middle Georgia College in Cochran, where they will play Brentwood at 8:30 p.m. Brentwood runs a similar full-court pressure defense to Terrell Academy.
“It’s going to be a great matchup,” Jones said.
The Lady Eagles shot the lights out in the region finale win against Brookwood to capture the top seed, but followed that up an uninspired performance in the first round Wednesday.
Jones thought he knew why.
“There’s something about it, when you have a great ball game like the other night (in the region championship), you usually follow it up with a stinker,” Jones said. “And we did.”
Terrell Academy also got eight points and three steals from senior Marlee Locke.
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