Habersham Central High School’s varsity girls basketball team picked up a big region win Friday night against Jackson County High School, 42-36, in Mt. Airy.
Coming into the contest, the Lady Panthers (14-7) were 7-0 in Region 8-AAAAA, but the Lady Raiders (6-10, 4-4 8-AAAAA) handed the visitors their first region loss of the season.
The game was back and forth all night long, with Jackson County holding a 10-8 lead after the first quarter. The period would have closed 10-5, but Oaklee Jackson hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to cut the deficit.
Then, the Lady Raiders pushed a 15-9 run in the second quarter, including a 3-point heave by Daytona Underwood, which fell out of the net with about two seconds in the first half remaining. The clock expired before the Lady Panthers even attempted to in-bound the ball for their own attempt at a last-second basket.
HCHS Head Coach Bill Bradley said he talked to his team at the break about Jackson County seemed to be earning all the 50-50 balls, despite how hard he acknowledged his team was playing.
The Lady Raiders took that to heart and started taking control of the 50-50 balls in the third quarter. HCHS went on a nice run to end the third quarter, picking up steals while pressing, making tough shots and even cashing in a few breakaway layups.
Bradley, who said he doesn’t have his team press a lot as a coach, said he felt inclined to let this team try due to the athletes he has on the roster.
The athleticism of Paisley Cathey and Tessa Murdock, length of Underwood, Sadie Chambers’ ability to read the game all played a part in Bradley leaning toward putting full-court pressure on the opposing team.
The result: “We got more out of it than we gave up,” Bradley said.
That run down the stretch in the third quarter put the Lady Raiders up 10, 37-27, heading into the final period.
Offensively, it was the worst quarter of the game for the home team, with them only scoring five points while giving up nine. But it was enough.
The Lady Panthers hit a 3-pointer late to cut the deficit to 4, 40-36. Then Chambers hit a pair of free throws to provide the final cushion necessary to secure the win.
Chambers, who finished with nine points on the night, has been a key piece to the Lady Raiders as of late.
Earlier in the year, Bradley was having to use Underwood as a de facto point guard, despite that not being her true position, because she was the most comfortable person on the team to bring the ball up the floor. With her bringing the ball up the court into the offensive half for HCHS, her offensive stats suffered and the Lady Raiders were playing with one of their post players on the perimeter instead of in the paint.
Friday night, with Chambers on ball-handling duty, Underwood led all scorers in the game with 12 points. Chambers’ nine points tied for second among all scorers as Jackson County had a pair of players also end up one shy of double digits.
With three weeks until the region tournament, the Lady Raiders are sitting at fifth place in the region standings. That spot would put them on the road for the first game of the region tournament. However, the upcoming schedule is in their favor with three of the final four region games being played in the friendly confines of Raider Gymnasium.
Bradley said having those three games at home is “huge.”
“We’ve still got to go play, but we feel like, every game we have coming up, we have an opportunity to win.”
The Lady Raiders will be back on the court Tuesday at Loganville High School at 6 p.m. before coming home Friday to host Apalachee High School, also at 6 p.m. Then, they’ll host a make-up game from a weather-postponed matchup against Alcovy High School at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1.
