DEL.ICIO.USGeorgia High School Basketball
State tournament: Redan girls nip Parkview in thriller
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, March 12, 2009
It remains to be seen whether the Redan-Parkview girls basketball semifinal was the real championship game in Class AAAAA.
But this much was clear Thursday at Gwinnett Arena: Redan’s 63-62 victory in a game between the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked high school teams was a classic.
Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com
Parkview’s Lauren Coleman (32) gets consoled by her father and assistant coach Michael Coleman after Parkview’s narrow loss to Redan 63-62 in their Class AAAAA semi-final game at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center Thursday.
The Raiders, 26-0 and ranked No. 1, trailed in the fourth quarter for the first time this season but saved itself with a 13-1 run, spurred by Kierra Paige’s awkward 3-pointer off the glass.
With 4:21 remaining, Parkview (30-2) led 53-46, but Redan held the Panthers without a field goal for the next four minutes.
Paige, who led Redan with 19 points, hit her 3-pointer to cut the lead to 54-53. Alisha Andrews scored to give Redan the lead for good with 1:59 remaining.
“With Paige hitting that big 3, that was the turnaround,” Redan coach Rhonda Malone said.
Redan led most of the way until Parkview’s Lauren Coleman made three 3-pointers and scored every point in an 11-0 run that closed the third quarter.
Coleman finished with 25 points, and her 3-point goal with 16 seconds left in the game cut the lead to 59-57.
But Redan made four consecutive free throws to render meaningless a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Parkview’s Morgan Mitchell.
