2007-08 GHSA State Championships
GHSA Girls Class 4A Semi-Finals
Fayette County vs. Madison County
The Arena Gwinnett Center – Duluth, GA
Fayette County advances to Class 4A Finals
Lady Tigers breath sigh of relief after MC misses two last second shots
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| 4SHOT Hoops All-Star Tessah Holt sticks this jumper. |
Duluth, GA - Fayette County Head Coach John Strickland and his Lady Tigers held their collective breaths as they watched teammate Kristene Walker miss the front-end of a one-on-one with 7.8 seconds left to play and again when Madison County grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball down the court only to miss a short jumper at the buzzer…Fayette County you can breathe now, your going to the State Championship Game.
It was evident from the start that Fayette County’s quickness was going to be a problem for Madison County as they raced up and down the court. A three-pointer by Kristene Walker gave Fayette County a 12-7 lead.
Tiwanna Allen was the big gun for Madison County in the first quarter scoring 6 points as the Lady Red Raiders roared back to take a 13-12 lead. Fayette County’s 4SHOT Hoops All-Star point guard Tessah Holt scored to put the Lady Tigers up 17-15 at the end of the first quarter.
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| Fayette County's Anma Onyeuku (40) and her teammates did a great job neutralizing Madison County's Courtney and Kayla Freeman (32) |
4Shot Hoops All-Star Courtney Freeman stepped up her game in the second quarter after a slow start for Madison County when the Lady Red Raiders started pounding the ball inside. Future 4SHOT Hoops All-Star 6-0 freshman Kayla Freeman, yes Courtney’s younger sister also started posting-up.
Fayette County’s pressure defense really began to cause Madison County problems as they started turning the ball over. Holt drilled a three-pointer and sophomore Anma Onyeuku matched Freeman point for point and rebound for rebound as the Lady Tigers took a 29-23 lead into the half.
Madison County turned the defensive tables on Fayette County in the third quarter holding them to just 8 points, all of which were scored by Onyeuku. K. Freeman scored a pair of hoops as Madison County cut the lead to two, 37-35.
A basket by Shantydra Arnold at the start of the forth quarter tied the game at 37-37. Holt then took the ball the length of the court to score and Sasha Sims scored off a nice feed from Walker to put the Lady Tigers in front by four 41-37 with 5:21 to play.
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| Sasha Sims hair is flying everywhere as she hauls down this rebound for Fayette County. |
The guard play of Holt, Walker and Jasmine Facey gave them an advantage that they had exploited all game as they constantly beat the Madison County guards off the dribble. With just over 2:00 minutes to play Holt picked up her 4th foul and had to take a seat on the bench, but after a quick turnover the Lady Tigers Head Coach John Strickland put her back in the game.
Walker made a sweet pass to Jenee Brooks to score, giving Fayette County a 45-40 lead with under 1:00 minute to play. Madison County fought back to cut the lead to 45-44. With :34 seconds to play Fayette County turned the ball over. Madison County had a chance to tie the game but Allen missed a short jumper and Fayette County got the rebound.
With 7.8 seconds on the clock Walker was fouled, she stepped to the line for the one-and-one but missed and Madison County rebounded the ball and pushed it quickly up the floor. Allen had another good look at the basket but her shot came up short as a jubilant Fayette County team rushed the floor to celebrate. The win advances the Lady Tigers into the Class 4A Championship game against No.1 ranked Southwest DeKalb.
The Final Score: Fayette County 45 – Madison County 44
Scoring Recap:
Fayette County: Anma Onyeuku scored 16 to lead the Lady Tigers. Tessah Holt added 12, Kristene Walker 7 and Sasha Sim chipped in with 6.
Madison County: Tiwanna Allen scored 15 to pace Madison County, Courtney Freeman and Shantydra Arnold each added 11.
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