A strange new strategy (and totally unintentional); but did
it ever work.
The only thing the Westfield girls basketball team did wrong
the entire fourth quarter of Friday’s regular-season finale was start play with
just four Lady Hornets on the floor. After that, it was total domination with a
10-0 run and a 10-point victory, 53-43, against the Tattnall Square Lady
Trojans.
With the win, Westfield and Tattnall Square finished tied
for first place in the final GISA Region 2-AAA standings. The two teams that
split their two 2012-13 games held a coin toss after the game to determine
which would be the top seed for the region’s post-season tournament, which
began Tuesday at Tattnall Square and will conclude on Friday.
If the No. 1 Lady Hornets and No. 2 Lady Trojans are to meet
for the third time this season to decide the 2-AAA champions, the clash will
begin at 7 p.m.
Katlyn Moseley, Chelsea Whaley and Callie Hammerle all
recorded double figures Friday, Moseley leading the way with 18 points. In the
fourth quarter, she was 6-for-6 in free throws. Hammerle scored 13 points and
Whaley 14. Tops in rebounds and assists was senior forward Valerie McLure with
nine and six.
Westfield played that fourth period without another starting
forward Sydney Ledford, who drew her fourth personal foul in the third quarter.
Head coach Cass Cassell had no reason to make any changes in the last eight
minutes with everything going Westfield’s way.
That wasn’t the case when Ledford initially had to sit down.
Though Whaley and McKinley Walton each stuck a 3-pointer in the last 2:15,
Tattnall Square forward Blair Smith took advantage of Ledford’s absence with a
personal 5-0 run to end the third. The Lady Trojans were ahead 34-32, and to
start the fourth Cassell had to call time when several seconds ticked off the
clock with only four for Westfield in the action.
Fully in tact, the Lady Hornets played feisty defense and
pushed the basketball for Hammerle to score two field goals. Whaley
pick-pocketed Anna Dooley and converted a three-point play putting Westfield at
42-34.
Tattnall Square’s first points of the fourth came at 5:10,
but at 4:14 Westfield looked about to do some stalling. Moseley, though, wasn’t
quite ready to do that, firing away for a successful 3 and 47-36.
Moseley also stole a pass made inside by Ivey Slaughter, the
highly-touted Lady Trojan center responsible for nine blocks against Westfield
when her team won the first match-up held in Macon.
Slaughter didn’t come near that number in blocks. The Lady
Hornets were respecting her presence inside when this rematch began by taking
the basketball in only a handful of times. When they did, Slaughter didn’t
challenge, but the home team didn’t find any points in the paint until 1:41
when Moseley took the ball baseline for a three-point play.
This was, in fact, the first field goal of any kind for
Westfield.
On offense, Slaughter mainly stood outside the arc looking
pass first. She had three good entry feeds, but only one for an assist out of a
double team. Slaughter led a fast break for another assist, and put back an
offensive rebound.
Whaley, Cassell’s only substitute, immediately drove
baseline for Westfield’s second made field goal, and it happened to give it the
lead, 8-7, for the second period.
After four second-quarter lead changes, the Lady Hornets
stretched out in front as much as nine. Slaughter had 12 of the 13 points by
Tattnall Square, including a long inbound play where she sped to midcourt to
take the pass back and dribbled the ball to the rim.
Slaughter even made a 3-pointer, but so did Hammerle. Whaley
scored twice, two coming when McLure yanked away a rebound and fed the
sophomore.
At 4:08 until halftime, Westfield led 18-11 with more
confident shooting and domination on the defensive glass holding TSA to one
shot per possession.
(For the game, Westfield outrebounded TSA 38-22.)
Moseley’s 3-ball had the margin up to nine, 23-14, but the
Lady Trojans – Slaughter in particular – ended the half with six in a row. Slaughter’s
first block of the game came with less than two minutes to go, and both Ledford
and McLure went into the half with three fouls.
The 6-0 run became 11 straight in the third quarter,
Tattnall Square creeping ahead 25-23. It looked as if the Lady Hornets were
settling for the 3-point shot against a 2-3 zone until McLure scored – with
Slaughter in the lane – inside at 4:42.
Smith and Slaughter worked the high-low play to get the lead
back 27-25, but Whaley’s 3-pointer reclaimed it. Walton scored from long range
at 1:13 to break a tie before Smith had her five in a row to close out the
third.
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