Tuesday night checked two boxes for Habersham Central High School’s varsity girls basketball team as the Lady Raiders put together a dominating performance against Apalachee High School to move into the region tournament semifinals and booked their ticket for the state tournament at the same time.
HCHS (11-11) picked up a 63-13 win over the Lady Wildcats (4-22) to punch their ticket to a semifinal matchup against Winder-Barrow High School at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Raider Gymnasium.
Winder-Barrow is a shock opponent for the Lady Raiders as the Lady Bulldoggs (10-17) won just two region games this season – their home and away against Apalachee. Winder-Barrow beat Loganville High School, the No. 3 seed in the region tournament, by 11 as the No. 6 seed. During their regular season matchups, the Lady Bulldoggs were on the losing end by six points on Jan. 7 and then 21 points less than two weeks ago on Jan. 31.
In the two matchups between HCHS and Winder-Barrow this season, the Lady Raiders swept the series. HCHS won by three points on Dec. 10 at home, then by 14 on Jan. 17 in Winder.
“They’re playing well. They’ve got a good coach and she’s got them where they need to be,” HCHS Head Coach Bill Bradley said of his upcoming opponent. “We’ll just have to come in and take care of business.”
Dominating win
Tuesday night’s contest wasn’t a fluke for the Lady Raiders against Apalachee. HCHS knocked off the Lady Wildcats 44-18 on the road and 61-25 at home on Jan. 31.
The Lady Raiders came out with a flurry of pressure and energy and used it all to their advantage. Apalachee either fouled shooters or watched as the ball fell through the net on the first five shots from the floor for the Lady Raiders.
HCHS pushed the pace and controlled the game so thoroughly the Lady Wildcats didn’t score their first point until 6 minutes, 20 seconds of game time had ticked off the clock. That basket was a solo free throw that made the score 25-1. Each team would go on to score a free throw each to close out the final minute, 40 seconds.
“I thought, in the first quarter, we executed really, really well,” Bradley said. “We had a bounce in our step, we shot the ball pretty good and I think we made or got fouled on our first five or six shots. It was really nice to see that start.”
Bradley said it was good to see his freshman point guard, Sadie Chambers, have a good game as well.
“It was nice to see Sadie hit the two (3-pointers in the first quarter) and she hit an open 3-pointer in rhythm comfortably,” Bradley said. “It’s important to see her be comfortable this time of the year with the tournament.”
Chambers led all scorers with 12 points. Senior Paisley Cathey was the only other player in double digits with 10. Forwards Tessa Murdock and Daytona Underwood each netted 9 points.
The Lady Raiders continued their high-energy, high-paced attack to push to a 40-4 halftime lead.
HCHS held Apalachee to just five field goals on the night. Their first came on a layup 2 minutes, 40 seconds into the second quarter. Their second field goal was a breakaway layup off a steal 6 minutes, 48 seconds into the third quarter. In the fourth, the Lady Wildcats hit a layup, a midrange jumper and a 3-pointer.
Bradley said this was a night where, in the past, he would have gone into the locker room at halftime “screaming and yelling” to make sure the players didn’t take their foot off the gas and kept their execution at a high level.
“It’s not about your opponents. It’s about do you do what you’re supposed to do,” Bradley said. “We talked (at half) about three different possessions there in the second quarter and, because we were up and it didn’t quote-unquote matter, we didn’t do the things defensively we said we were going to do when we walked out there.”
Things like guarding the ball on a sidelines inbound and not doubling the ball when it finds its way inside the defensive zone were two plays he pointed out specifically.
“When we say we’re going to do it, we have to do it because we’re not so great of a team that we can get away with just anything,” he said. “Tonight was about our execution and that’s what we talked about before we started the game. ‘OK, let’s not worry about our opponent. Let’s worry about us.’ I thought we did that for the most part.”
The Lady Raiders have already punched their ticket to the state tournament, but a win Thursday night over Winder-Barrow affords two more opportunities to achieve team goals: it would put them in the region title game with a shot at a region crown and it would mean they would host a first-round state playoff game.
Considering HCHS started the season 3-8 overall and 1-2 in region play before New Year’s Day, it’s impressive it was able to earn the No. 2 seed and make it into the state tournament. Going 8-3 since the start of January, including six-straight region wins and seven wins in nine region game, will jump you toward the top in a hurry.
“To be where we are now… when I’m coaching, the words coming out of my mouth are different today than they were four or five weeks ago, so our kids have grown up. We’ve just gotten better,” Bradley said. “To make it to this point and make it to the state tournament, I think our kids are happy, but this is kind of an expectation for them.”
This is the sixth straight season making it to the state tournament for the Lady Raiders. But first they’d like to make it as the No. 1 seed for Region 8-AAAAA with a region title under their belt. The next step up the pedestal starts on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Winder-Barrow in Raider Gymnasium.
