Valerie McLure may not, according to her mother and team
scorekeeper Judy, like shooting a basketball in the Tattnall Square Academy gym
too much. Cass Cassell, McLure’s and the rest of the Westfield Lady Hornets’
head coach, may not have liked the idea of needing to beat an old school rival
that they dominated in the regular season with a GISA AAA Final Four bid on the
line.
What the whole program does like is that, behind 17 points
from the senior McLure, Westfield is back in the semifinals for the second year
in a row under Cassell. At Tattnall Square Friday, the Lady Hornets outlasted
Deerfield-Windsor, the tournament champions of Region 3-AAA, in the second
round 45-32.
“I never was comfortable,” said Cassell afterwards, though
his girls never trailed the Lady Knights from late in the first quarter on to
the finish. “It’s the state tournament, and you’re comfortable when it’s over.
Their No. 20 (freshman Nyula Perry is a good shooter) and (Casey Kincheloe) was
taking it to the basket pretty good.
“We struggled, and it was because of them. We got in foul
trouble early and didn’t shoot real well from the foul line.”
Inside shots – and some good ones right at the rim – never
would fall for Westfield.
“We missed a bunch of them,” said Cassell. “Maybe we can get
that straightened out before we go to (Mercer University).
“I thought our rebounding was pretty good. Sydney Ledford
has come around and is rebounding a lot better. Valerie did a great job, playing
like a senior.”
Ledford had a double-double with 11 points and a team-high
10 rebounds. McLure pulled down nine boards, and her fellow senior, McKinley
Walton, grabbed eight. Back to scoring, Katlyn Moseley put in all eight of her
points in the second half.
Deerfield-Windsor prevailed over Tiftarea for the 3-AAA
championship in the first season for former Westfield head coach Jeff Eubanks.
Their outcomes in non-region meetings with the Lady Hornets were not good,
losses by 29 and 24 points. The Lady Knights, taking advantage of early
turnovers, had a 5-0 run in the first quarter.
Ledford had Westfield’s first two baskets inside with
assists from McLure (on an offensive board) and Callie Hammerle (with help from
a screen).
Perry began the game missing her first two 3-point tries, but
her team put back one for 2. That was Deerfield-Windsor’s last field goal
before Westfield went on a game-deciding 9-0 run. Chelsea Whaley, off the
bench, did her baseline drive for the tying field goal at 2:12.
Hammerle rebounded a transition miss and found McLure on the
other end for 3. To end the quarter, Ledford connected from the top of the key.
Westfield was up 14-8 to begin the second.
Westfield’s struggles on the inside mounted up, especially
for Whaley, who would only notch five points. Though Perry missed a 3 for the
fourth time, her teammates put it back in to pull within three (15-12). At 3:52
until the half, McLure answered with her second trey, this one from a corner
spot.
McLure may not like the fact that this is her final
basketball game at Tattnall Square, for she found a third 3-pointer when she
converted Ledford’s offensive board and Whaley’s assist. Previously, Westfield
as a whole was not making its numerous second chances inside, but Ledford
followed in her own miss to close the half at 23-14. The Lady Knights failed to
dent the lead three times from Lady Hornet giveaways.
Both McLure and Walton went into the second half with three
personal fouls. That turned out to not be a factor. One good note about the first
half was Westfield’s rebounding edge of 19 to 9.
Perry ended her shooting slump with her team’s initial
third-quarter possession. Two minutes in, the Lady Hornets were looking for
their first points, and they came at 5:31 on a Moseley 3-ball (26-18). Perry
proceeded to miss her next three outside attempts, and the inside misses still
piled up on Cassell’s stat sheet.
Late in the third, Westfield had three transition
opportunities in a row with only one score, that from McLure. They slowed it
down on the fourth push, worked the ball around and found McLure again for a
three-point play at 1:18.
The Lady Hornets were up 10, 31-21, to start the fourth, and
Moseley and Ledford began it each with a long jumper. Moseley’s next 3-ball
scored at the 4-minute mark as the Lady Knights threw away a number of
opportunities. Westfield’s biggest lead was 18 on a Hammerle second-shot
(42-24).
For the second year in a row, the Lady Hornets are in the
semifinals as runner-up from its region (2-AAA). Getting out of the first round
was a battle, 47-43, against a Pinewood Christian club they had not faced all
season.
For the GISA semifinals, they get a fourth-time meeting,
this one right out of 2-AAA against Mt. de Sales at 7 p.m. Thursday. This is
the first year the GISA Final Four will be staged at Mercer after years at
Georgia College & State in Milledgeville.
“I thought the girls bounced back, didn’t get down from the
(region) loss too much,” said Cassell.
HHJ News
