Crystal Henderson scored 13 of her game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter and helped top-ranked Kell turn back a late push from No. 4 Bradwell Institute for a 68-54 victory in the Class 5A girls basketball quarterfinals Tuesday night in Marietta.
Henderson, who was named the Region 6-5A player of the year, got perhaps the biggest points of the night when she made a layup and a free throw after a steal with 6:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. The three-point play restored Kell’s lead to double digits at 54-43 after Bradwell Institute had cut a 22-point third-quarter deficit to eight points.
The Tigers got within nine points once more, on two free throws by Tinayah Bowman with 5:55 left, but the Longhorns expanded the lead from there. Henderson scored eight of Kell’s last 10 points over the final 3:13.
“She’s a fighter, she’s so tough, she’s such a competitor,” Kell coach Kandra Bailey said of her senior guard. “They all are. They wanted to go back to the final four, and that’s where we’re going.”
Kell (24-5) will be back in the semifinals for the third time in four seasons when it meets third-ranked Jackson-Atlanta at 6 p.m. Friday at the University of West Georgia. Kell was the Class 5A runner-up in 2020 and reached the quarterfinals and semifinals the past two seasons in Class 6A.
Jackson (26-1), a quarterfinalist last season, advanced with a 54-47 victory over No. 5 Union Grove.
Bradwell Institute scored the first points of the game on a putback by Ta’naya Moore and was tied 5-5 after a 3-pointer by Parris Parham with 5:39 remaining in the first quarter, but Kell seized control by outscoring the Tigers 25-7 over the next eight minutes for a 30-12 lead.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 31-20, but Kell scored seven of the final nine points of the half and led 38-22 going into the break.
MJ Harris made four of Kell’s seven 3-pointers in the first half. She finished with five 3-pointers and 18 points.
“We know that’s a very good team, and our girls were just ready to play,” Bailey said. “We were hitting shots in the first half and we were moving well on defense, so I think we were just clicking on all cylinders. The second half we came out kind of slow, and they started hitting shots, but all in all we pulled it together in the end.”
Henderson and Jada Green scored four points each in Kell’s 8-2 run to open the second half that stretched the lead to 46-24 with 5:30 to play in the third quarter
Bradwell Institute fought back, outscoring the Longhorns 19-5 over the next seven minutes to pull within 51-43, the closest it would get in the second half.
The key to the Tigers’ late rally was Bowman, the Region 1 player of the year. She scored 10 of her team-high 23 points in the final seven minutes.
