Marietta survived an early free-throw barrage from Tift County and then made a few of its own down the stretch to hold on for a 56-47 victory Monday at Marietta in the second round of the Class AAAAAA girls basketball tournament.
The victory puts Marietta (22-8), the No. 3 seed from Region 4-AAAAAA in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009, when the Blue Devils lost to Redan in the state championship game. Marietta will play Wednesday at Region 1-AAAAAA tournament champion Lowndes, which advanced with an overtime victory Monday against Hillgrove.
Marietta held Tift County to four field goals in the first half but led just 31-24 at halftime because of a big discrepancy at the free-throw line. Marietta was called for 10 fouls before Tift County was called for its first, which came with 3:44 to play in the second quarter. As a result, Tift County (13-17, the No. 4 seed from 1-AAAAAA) was able to keep the game close by going 16-for-20 from the line.
“In the first half I think we got some calls that kinda didn’t go our way,” Marietta coach Ken Sprague said. “But we were fouling them. I think they fouled us and we didn’t get some of those calls, but we did foul them. We weren’t getting our bodies in front and we were reaching and slapping. Defensively if we move our feet we can be pretty good, but we’ve got to quit fouling.”
Marietta’s Kayla Wilson made her third 3-pointer of the game on the opening possession of the second half to give Marietta its first 10-point lead at 34-24. Tift County attempted 11 more free throws in the third quarter but made just three as Marietta stretch the lead to 43-27. Tift County’s only field goal in the quarter came on a layup by Brecklyn Greene in the final seconds.
Tift closed to within six points twice in the fourth, but Marietta secured the victory at the free-throw line. Marietta made just 9 of 18 free throws in the quarter but was 7-for-8 in the final two minutes. Freshman Tatiana Foster scored all seven of her points in the quarter and went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 1:32.
Marietta fell behind 6-2 early but closed the first quarter with a 13-4 run to take the lead for good at 15-11. Wilson took over in the second quarter as Marietta began to pull away, scoring 12 of her team-leading 15 points. Jacky Jones finished with 12 points for Marietta, and Wilson added 10.
For the game, Tift County made 10 field goals, including its only 3-pointer by Alexis Johnson with 5:12 to play, and was 26-for-41 on free throws. Johnson led Tift in scoring with 16 points. Marietta made 16 of its 31 free-throw attempts.
“We kept allowing them to get by us instead of keeping instead of keeping in front,” Sprague said. “We kept going for steals instead of keeping them in front of us. They first half they took 20 free throws, and we didn’t think enough to say, ‘OK, hit a jump shot on us.’”
Tift County (47): Audrey McElhaney 12, Dail Adaway, Brecklyn Greene 9, Alexis Johnson 16, Staceyanna Murrell 3, Moneisha Goldsborough, Sky Moore, Tatianya Smith 7.
Marietta (56): Asia Vetter 5, Chandler Warren, Jacky Jones 12, Kayla Wilson 10, Asia Blu Wilson 15, Tatiana Foster 7, Amari Allen, Deaja Morton 7.
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