Three days later, Warner Robins High’s Demonettes could not
muster another miracle comeback. The Region 2-AAAAA tournament champions
returned home Tuesday only to suffer a GHSA AAAAA first-round knockout by the
Ware County High Lady Gators 67-48.
Tom Mobley’s girls trailed for every second of this game,
and most of those were by double figures. A rally was not out of the question,
for that’s what Warner Robins did on Feb. 16 at Jones County High when it took
Evans High to overtime after being behind as much as 11 in the second half. The
OT was all Demonettes, who claimed the program’s third region title in a row.
Ware County, the No. 4 seed of Region 3-AAAAA, took full
advantage of any emotional drain still experienced by Warner Robins by pitching
a first-quarter shutout, 14-0. The Lady Gators continued to outrun the
Demonettes at any and all opportunities. Guard Nene Howard did most of the
damage scoring 26 points.
Senior Ce Ce Carroll, with four 3-pointers, had 15 points to
pace the home team. Forward Kate Hill notched 11 points and Asha Stegall, the
senior who took control of that championship victory late with 29 points, was
held to seven.
Already taking a 4-0 lead on three takeaways in a row, Ware
County proceeded to run the floor five more times on three more giveaways and
two missed shots. In all, Warner Robins had eight first-quarter turnovers.
In the second quarter, the Demonettes went from being down
‘two touchdowns’ to one in a span of four minutes. Hill scored the home team’s
first basket on the low block after taking the pass inside from Carroll. Jada
Everett, senior forward, followed in a miss from 3-point land.
The pace took on one of an All-Star game, and Stegall made a
steal with a dribble drive in the middle of the lane. She dished off to Destini
Johnson, who missed her shot, but grabbed the rebound. Johnson fed Hill, who
completed the 7-0 run.
Stegall’s stop-and-pop jumper brought Warner Robins within
six, 15-9, when Ware County scored its first field goal of the quarter at 1:15.
The Lady Gators went back ahead by 10, and Warner Robins, after keeping the
turnover number considerably down, committed two in the final minute.
With that, Ware had two more takeaway points, but the
Demonettes stole an inbound pass to go into halftime down 21-10.
One of the staples of Mobley’s teams the last couple of
decades is full-court defensive pressure, especially after made baskets. Warner
Robins, though, could not do that in any of its makes during the second half as
Howard only needed seconds to get to her end and counter any home team scoring.
That’s how the third quarter began as Stegall stole the ball
at mid-court and Hill scored two on a put-back. Ware’s ensuing push resulted in
the ‘and-1’ for 24-12.
There was one moment of press success after Tesia Walker’s
stick-back. Stegall made the steal, drew a foul and had her team within nine at
24-15. The Demonettes were back within seven as Hill put back two more.
A seven-point margin was the best Warner Robins could do as
Carroll followed a great second-chance assist from Stegall to Sharleza Ross
with a trey at 3:47 (29-22). The Demonette reliance on the 3-ball allowed Ware
to score six transition points, though Dacien Ambler connected at 2:05 (35-35).
Warner Robins also went a long stretch without any of those second shots until
Hill ended the third quarter with an offensive board.
Still, it was 43-29 with eight mintues left. Carroll and
Stegall combined to put five on the board. It was a 10-point game (45-35).
Though Carroll made three 3-pointers in the period, the Lady Gators found open
space to push the basketball down the left side and went non-stop down the
middle. It was 55-45 with 3:18 to play, but the Lady Gators scored 12 straight.
In the second half, Ware was 16-for-23 at the foul line.
HHJ News
