By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Going into Friday night’s Class 4A girls basketball sub-regional game against Oneonta, Cherokee County High School junior guard Ellisan Givens said the Lady Warriors’ game plan was to rebound and play good defense.
They turned in a performance that made head coach Richard Barton proud.
Cherokee County limited Oneonta to just one shot on many trips up the court, and its suffocating defense also held the Lady Redskins to just five first-half points – all of which were scored in the first quarter – in a 57-20 rout that sends them back to the Northeast Regional Tournament at Jacksonville State University for the second straight year.
“We knew we could pressure them a little bit in the full court, and it worked pretty well,” Barton said. “We were able to get some turnovers out of that and able to get some quick points.
“Rebounding is a strength for us. After the Sand Rock game (a 46-43 loss in the county tournament on Jan. 17), we just looked ourselves in the mirror and said that never needs to happen again. They understand the importance of that now. When a team doesn’t box us out, Dee (Deannia Starr), Nevaeh (Gaidurgis) and Ellisan are really good at getting offensive boards.”
Behind Givens, Gaidurgis and Starr, the Lady Warriors (24-3) built a 14-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter. That lead swelled to 26-5 by halftime.
The rout continued into the third quarter.
The Lady Warriors opened the third on a 7-0 run and didn’t allow Oneonta (13-15) a basket until a 3-pointer by Reagan Phelps with 5:22 remaining in the third. Phelps’ trey broke a 13:34 stretch of game time in which the Lady Redskins went scoreless.
Oneonta managed to score nine points in the third quarter, but the Lady Warriors had the game well in hand by taking a 47-14 advantage after three.
“Boxing out was a really big factor in this game,” said Gaidurgis, who led the Lady Warriors with 12 points and six rebounds.
With a running clock in the fourth quarter, Barton was able to play everyone off his bench as the Lady Warriors secured another trip to back to Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Cherokee County will face the winner of Saturday’s sub-regional game between Westminster Christian and sixth-ranked Plainview at JSU on Thursday.
“Our last JSU experience was awesome for me. I really hope we can get further this year,” said Givens, who posted 11 points and 11 rebounds on Friday. “I know we’re going to fight for it.”
Barton feels his team is slipping into the Northeast Regional Tournament under the radar.
“I think this year we’ve been overlooked,” he said. “We’ve lost a couple of games that we probably shouldn’t have, but I think we’ve been playing our best ball lately. I’m very proud of them, very proud of their effort at practice leading up to this. They’re wanting to work, get better every day and push each other. They stepped up tonight.”
Brooklynn Bruce and Marie Crane both connected on a pair of treys for the Lady Warriors. Bruce had eight points and Crane came away with six. Vivian Connell and Starr both finished with five points. Starr also had six rebounds.
Madalan Robertson and Lexie Jackson led the Lady Redskins with four points apiece.
