Saturday's Class AA semifinal matchup between the No. 7 GAC Lady Spartans and No. 3 Wesleyan Lady Wolves was shaping up to be a classic for the Region 6 rivalry. At least until the fourth quarter, when Wesleyan took charge and stormed to a 78-48 win at Georgia College.
"That was the closest 30-point game I've ever been a part of," said Lady Wolves coach Jan Azar, who's one win away from her 12th state tile with Wesleyan of the last 15 seasons.
The Lady Wolves (27-4) - Region 6's No. 2 seed - led 44-38 heading into the fourth quarter of a game that No. 3-seed GAC (20-10), came to within a point of Wesleyan five different times, though the Lady Spartans never led.
Wesleyan will play the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between No. 1 Holy Innocents' (Region 6, No. 1 seed) and No. 6 Putnam County (Region 4, No. 1 seed). Should Wesleyan's region rival Holy Innocents' win, there will be a rematch of last year's title game, which the Lady Wolves won.
The championship game will be played March 4 at 3 p.m. at the Macon Centerplex.
Wesleyan was able to break through in the fourth with a 34-10 run led by Mikayla Coombs' 13 points, which included 8-for-8 free throw shooting and a 3-pointer. For the game, the junior guard and D-I recruit was the leading scorer with 25 points, adding eight rebounds, two steals and a block.
Even with the game decided and the Lady Wolves up 20 with three minutes remaining, they kept their foot on the gas and poured on points all the way to the final buzzer, with reserve Katie Stipe drilling a 3 as time expired.
Cairo Booker, who finished the game with 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds said the Lady Wolves' merciless finish to the game had to do with their opponent.
"It might be our last time playing them considering we're going down to 1A next year," Booker said. "So I think it was the region rivalry. We just wanted to put them away."
The Lady Spartans kept the game close behind the scoring of Taylor Sutton (15 points) Robyn Benton (10 points), and the rebounding of the Cana Reynolds, who had 11 rebounds. GAC's rebounding efforts were aided by the absence of Wesleyan's 6-foot-3 center Natalie Armstrong (17 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks), who sat chunks of the second quarter and second half with foul trouble.
But GAC had foul troubles of its own, with Benton picking up her fifth with 4:44 remaining and the Lady Spartans trailing 58-41. Without Benton, GAC seemed to lose hope and Wesleyan continued to increase its lead.
Credit: Stan Awtrey
Credit: Stan Awtrey
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