When the Greenforest offensive vanished, the defense was there to take up the slack and helped put the Eagles in the state championship game.
Greenforest beat Eagle’s Landing Christian for the third time this season, 46-39 on Saturday in the Class A Private semifinals at Kennesaw State, sending the Eagles to their first championship game.
The Eagles (27-0) will play St. Francis for the state championship Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Macon Coliseum. The two teams have not met this season.
“Defense has been our thing all year long,” Greenforest coach Allison Prather said. “Defense turns to offense. If you’re nervous, when you play defense, the butterflies are going to fly away. The defense will feed the offense and that’s what happened tonight.”
ELCA couldn’t buy a basket in the first half, making just four shots from the field, as Greenforest took a 23-9 lead at the break.
The two teams each scored 12 points in the third period and Greenforest led 35-21 going into the final period.
ELCA made its run in the fourth quarter and pulled with five points when India Bellamy made a pair of free throws with 2:11 left to make it 42-37. The Chargers could get no closer, despite getting several good looks, and Greenforest finally put the game away at the line.
“This is the third time we’ve played them and it wasn’t a matter of if they were going to make a run, but when they were going to make a run,” Prather said. “I’m glad it came in the fourth quarter.”
Greenforest was led by Arielle Holloway with 10 points, Uloma Enyogasi with nine and Theodora Odia with eight.
ELCA (18-9) got 12 points from Bellamy, wh0 in the second half.
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