By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – The Cherokee County Lady Warriors are a consistent 3-point shooting team on most nights they take the court, but Friday wasn’t one of those nights.
They were 1-of-17 from beyond the arc against North Jackson in their Class 4A sub-regional contest.
But like good teams do, they found a way to compensate. Senior forward Deannia Starr played a big role in that compensation.
Starr posted a double-double, with 12 points and 13 rebounds. She also blocked four shots, had three assists, and two steals in the third-ranked Lady Warriors’ 67-45 victory.
The win sends Cherokee County (30-2) to their third straight Northeast Regional semifinal at Jacksonville State University’ Pete Mathews Coliseum on Wednesday against St. John Paul II. The Lady Falcons clipped Hokes Bluff 32-28 in other sub-regional action on Friday.
“I bring defense to the team,” Starr said. “I feel like if someone comes in the lane, then it’s my job to help make sure they don’t score.”
There was no doubt Starr was a dominating presence for the Lady Warriors down low against North Jackson.
“There’s going to be nights where you don’t hit the shots like we have been. It’s how you respond to that, what can you do to compensate for that, and how you can change the game in different ways,” Lady Warrior head coach Richard Barton said.
“Every time they’d get downhill, it seemed like she (Starr) was there ready to contest. Defensively, it might’ve been her best game. She’s big for us. When she’s not in there, there’s a difference in our rebounding and our post defense for sure.”
Starr’s play seemed to ignite that of fellow Lady Warrior seniors Ellisan Givens and Nevaeh Gaidurgis. Both of them rang for 20 points. Givens also grabbed eight boards, had five steals, and dished out three assists. Gaidurgis gained six rebounds, eight steals, and a pair of assists.
“We were in a little bit of a rut there in the first half. Those two (Givens and Gaidurgis) were not looking for their own shots,” Barton said. “When they kind of started looking to score a little bit and go by people and take the shots they were given, we were able to build a little bit of a lead there.”
“You’re going to have nights where you’re not shooting your best. That was tonight,” Givens said. “We just responded to that in other ways. You have to do that. You have to fight through games like that. We just continued to fight and picked it up in other ways.”
Early on, it looked as if Cherokee County might win in a rout.
The Lady Warriors jumped out of the gate on an 8-0 run, but the Lady Chiefs closed out the quarter on a 14-8 run to trail by two at 16-14. The Lady Warriors managed to extend their lead to nine at halftime at 33-24.
North Jackson attempted another comeback early in the third, cutting its deficit to five at 33-28, but the Lady Warriors outscored the Lady Chiefs 20-11 the rest of the quarter to take a 53-39 edge into the fourth quarter.
“They were ready to play,” Barton said. “They have some athletic girls. They had a couple of girls who were really, really quick. They were hard to stay in front of. They’ve got a little bit of size that gives us trouble sometimes. Hats off to them. They were ready to go.”
Lexi Gary led North Jackson with 19 points. Alley Stubblefield, Brylee Seal, Calena Coffee, and Cheyanne Chesser each had six points. Chesser scored her points on a pair of 3-pointers.
“They were ready to play. They came out and played hard,” Barton said. “They have some athletic girls. They had a couple of girls who were really, really quick. They were hard to stay in front of. They’ve got a little bit of size that gives us trouble sometimes.”
Brooklynn Bruce finished with seven points, two rebounds, a steal, and a block for Cherokee County, which heads back to Pete Mathews Coliseum on a 23-game winning streak.
But winning streaks and making another regional tournament again mean little to the Lady Warriors.
“We’ve got the opportunity to make it to the state tournament,” Gaidurgis said.
“We have the experience. This time we know what level we have to play at to win there,” Givens said. “We want to make it to that next step where we’re aiming for Birmingham.”
“We believe we can win a state championship this year,” Starr said.
