Westwood girls advance in state tournament

CAMILLA — Having won the last two GISA Class AA state championships, the undefeated Westwood Lady Wildcats figured there’s no need to stop their momentum.

At least not Tuesday night anyway.

Westwood toppled Frederica Academy 45 -27 in the first round of the GISA Class AAA state tournament at Westwood. The Lady Wildcats (27-0) advance to the second round where they will meet Westfield after the Lady Hornets defeated Loganville Christian 58-40 in their first round game.

The second round match up will be at 6 p.m. on Friday.

“I actually thought we came out of the locker room and started the game well,” Westwood coach Jenni Smith said. “We had a 20-point first quarter. Then for whatever reason, we couldn’t score in the second quarter. We got great looks. We just couldn’t knock them down. That happens sometimes.”

The turning point in the game came in the third quarter with Westwood up 29-23. Maegan Moye scored two straight baskets to build the Lady Wildcats’ lead to 10. From that point, Westwood was in control.

Both teams started out strong with Westwood holding a 5-4 lead early in the first quarter. However, the Lady Wildcats went on a 13-4 run spearheaded by Morgan Singleton’s two 3-point baskets. The Lady Wildcats maintained a 10-point lead until Frederica closed out the first half on a 4-0 run of their own to cut Westwood’s halftime lead to 22-16.

“I thought our intensity in playing the game was there for all four quarters,” Smith said. “We just went through some dry spells in which we weren’t able to knock down shots.”

The Lady Knights created steals early in the third quarter but weren’t able to capitalize as they missed a couple of lay ups. Callie Smith scored a basket to increase the Lady Wildcats’ lead to 24-18, but the Lady Knights responded by scoring two straight baskets to cut the lead to four, prompting Smith to use one of her timeouts.

“They (Frederica) are a good basketball team … their zone defense was very good,” Smith said.

A few minutes later with Westwood up 29-23, Moye scored two straight baskets to put Westwood up by 10 by the end of the third quarter.

Frederica was not able to take advantage of its possessions as they missed easy shots on the inside. Westwood’s defense also came up big as they were able to create some stops.

Westwood was able to control the remainder of the game and salt away the victory. Callie Smith led Westwood with 19 points. Karlie Jones and Morgan Singleton each finished with eight points.

Frederica was led in scoring by Aubry Maulden with 14 points.