Harrison used 3-pointers to build a comfortable cushion against third-ranked Grayson but had to rely on the 1-pointers in the final minute to close out a 57-49 victory in the Class 7A girls basketball quarterfinals Tuesday night in Kennesaw.
Mia Geveke, Emily Acampora, Alisha Foster and Bailey Vick combined to go 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 47 seconds for the sixth-ranked Hoyas (26-3), who had seen a 16-point lead cut to six in a three-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter.
“We knew how good they were coming in,” Harrison coach Terry Kemp said. “They were obviously one of the best teams in the state, so we knew we had to play until all zeroes. That’s what we’ve preached to the girls all week. ‘Keep fighting, get to the end, secure it, and knock your free throws down.’”
The victory put Harrison in the semifinals for the first time since its 2018 team finished as the state runner-up. The Hoyas will face seventh-ranked Archer on Saturday at Buford City Arena. Archer advanced with a 74-42 quarterfinal victory against Pebblebrook.
A 3-pointer by Acampora, Harrison’s ninth of the night, gave the Hoyas a 50-34 lead with just under four minutes to play, but Grayson responded with a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 50-44 with 1:12 remaining. Grayson (22-6) had a chance to inch closer but missed four of six free throws in a 20-second span with about a minute left. The Rams’ Erin Rodgers scored six points during the run and had 13 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter.
The lead was still 50-44 with 47 seconds left when Geveke made both ends of a one-and-one to make it an eight-point game again, and the Rams never got closer than five points in the closing seconds.
Harrison’s Anna Gernatt, the Region 3 player of the year, had the hot hand for the Hoyas through the first three quarters. She made six of the Hoyas’ nine 3-pointers in the game, including three straight during a personal 9-0 run that turned a 26-22 lead into a 13-point game midway through the third quarter. Gernatt finished with 20 points.
“I’ve been here for 15 years, so I’ve been coaching basketball here a long time, and that’s the total package,” Kemp said of Gernatt. “Of all the players I’ve ever seen, she’s absolutely irreplaceable, from the classroom to the community to the court.”
Vick finished with 11 points, and Fisher and Acampora had eight each.
Grayson’s Tatum Brown added 12 points. Her 3-pointer with 6:16 remaining in the first quarter gave the Rams their only lead of the night at 3-2.
Grayson was making its first appearance in the state quarterfinals.
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