SPRING GARDEN – Things got off to a promising start for the Spring Garden Lady Panthers on Monday night against Ider in Class 2A Northeast Sub-Regional basketball action.
Five 3-pointers, including three by senior post player Neely Welsh, yielded a 15-point cushion heading into the second quarter. Three more Welsh treys helped Spring Garden build a 22-point edge.
But in the second half, the eighth-ranked Lady Hornets found some sting about them, and second-ranked Spring Garden’s shooting went cold.
An 18-4 run in the third brought Ider within eight, but a Welsh basket and free throw just under five minutes to play gave the Lady Panthers an 11-point lead. Six Ace Austin free throws in the final 1:12 helped Spring Garden secure a 52-37 victory that sends them back to Jacksonville State University’s Pete Mathews Coliseum for the Northeast Regional.
Spring Garden (30-1) will battle No. 3 Midfield on Friday at 3 p.m. The Lady Patriots defeated Southeastern 71-29 in other sub-regional action on Monday.
On a night where Welsh scored her 2,000th point on a 3-pointer with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter and head coach Ricky Austin earned his 900th combined boys and girls basketball win of his coaching career, there wasn’t much celebrating.
“I wasn’t real pleased with the effort,” Coach Austin said. “Even the first half, I wasn’t real pleased at halftime. I wasn’t real pleased at shoot around today. I could tell at shoot around today we weren’t very energetic. I said ‘Okay, I’ve got five seniors on this team. I’m just going to let them see where they are.’ It never changed. I never heard a senior speak up at halftime or when they (Ider) started making their run. I never seen anybody’s energy level change. I’m disappointed in that.”
Welsh, who had 25 points at halftime thanks to six treys, led the Lady Panthers with 28. She also had seven rebounds.
“It definitely wasn’t the best any of us has played, but on a night like this, what else can you feel other than great?,” Welsh said. “Coming off a not-so-good Sand Rock game for me (seven points), I can say that’s probably a win in my book for how this night went.
“We’re always talking about throwing the first punch, and I think that’s exactly what we did, but I think we could’ve backed it up a little better. In the end, we picked it up and knocked down some free throws. It’s just one of those things that happen. There in the end, they started coming back. It’s just one of those things you have to battle through.”
And battle through Spring Garden had to do when it appeared as if the game would be a rout.
The Lady Panthers led 19-4 at the end of the first quarter and held a 39-17 edge at halftime.
But then Ider outscored the Lady Panthers by 14 points in the third. The only Spring Garden baskets in the quarter were off of rebounds by Sarah Kate McKay and Ace Austin at the 5:34 and 5:17 marks respectively.
Ider had chances to cut into the Lady Panther lead even further in the second half, but couldn’t finish several shots at the basket.
“Once we turned into that team that just wanted to jack threes and nobody wanted to attack the paint and be successful, then we didn’t have a choice but get it out and hold the ball and make them come out,” Coach Austin said. “If we’re just going to shoot it and miss it, it didn’t make much sense with them getting hot. We didn’t want to give it back to them. We wanted to make them work a little bit harder. We thought maybe if they step out in a man, maybe we get the layup or free throws. It ended up being free throws, and that was the difference in the game.
“We got lucky. We’re thankful Ace stepped up right there at the end and finished the game for us.”
Ace Austin finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, four blocked shots and two steals. McKay managed six points and nine boards.
Kinsley Carson led the Lady Hornets with 11 points. Savannah Seals and Kenzie Smith both netted eight points. Makinley Traylor finished with six points.
Moments after the game, Coach Austin stayed on the court briefly while public address announcer Brian Jennings recognized both Welsh and his milestones. He then headed to the locker room for a while to vent his frustration before returning to talk with reporters.
Much of his attention had already turned to Midfield.
“This whole run with Sand Rock and Ider tonight, and then you play the No. 3 team (Midfield), there’s no break. Our girls look like they’re hunting for a break right now,” he said. “Like I’ve been telling them, there’s nothing easy. It’s getting harder and harder and harder as we go. We’re either going to tap out and bow down, or we’re going to have step it up or our season is going to be over real quick. You’ve got a really, really good Midfield team that we’ve got to face Friday. It’ll be a huge challenge for us.
“They’re very big, very aggressive, and we’re not. It’s going to be an interesting game to see who can bring what they do the best and bring it for four quarters. They press. They play good half-court defense. Their personnel fits the positions that they’re in. They’re long. They’ll give us trouble. We’re going to have to shoot the ball better than we’ve shot it all year long to make a difference the way I think they can play their defense. It’s going to be a tough matchup.”