Fourth quarter Midtown run puts Dalton too far behind as Lady Cats fall in state semis

Published 9:30 pm Friday, March 1, 2024

CARROLLTON — In the Class 5A girls basketball semifinals Friday night, Dalton went on a 9-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth.

That spurt got the Lady Catamounts the lead and some momentum as they tried to close out Midtown Friday in a Final Four game played at the University of West Georgia.

Then, as suddenly as Dalton gained the lead and that momentum, it disappeared.

Midtown answered Dalton’s 9-0 spurt with a 16-0 stretch that couldn’t have come at much worse of a time for a Dalton team with state title hopes.

Dalton went cold, Midtown got hot, and, by the time the two teams averaged out, it was too late.

Midtown defeated Dalton 73-63 Friday in the Class 5A Final Four, ending the deepest Dalton playoff run since the Lady Cats played for a state championship in 2011. The Knights (27-5) move on to face Maynard Jackson in the state championship game Thursday, while Dalton ends the year 21-10.

The Midtown run turned a 47-43 Dalton lead early in the fourth quarter into a 59-47 hole with a little over four minutes left.

Midtown, which had only made one 3-pointer in the first half, got hot for five in the second half. Two triples helped start the run, then a long two and a pair of steal-and-scores ballooned the advantage up.

A BB Bates putback finally ended the spurt, but Dalton still trailed by 10.

Emma Hefner, who finished as Dalton’s leading scorer on the night with 22, hit a 3-pointer to sink Midtown’s lead to 64-58 with 1:51 to go, but that was as small as it got. Midtown went 6-for-6 on its next free throws as Dalton was forced to foul, not leaving any room for the Lady Cats to put together the comeback.

Those free throws helped fend off a Dalton team desperate to stay in the game, with the Lady Cats scoring 16 points in the final four minutes.

Midtown, which finished second in Region 5-5A, knocks off Region 7-5A champ Dalton to move on to get another shot at Region 5 champ Jackson in the state title game.

Midtown’s 16-0 run marked the first time either team led by 10 or more in what was a tight game until the Knights made their move.

Dalton led 13-11 after a quarter and held the lead for most of the second quarter, but Midtown pushed ahead with a few minutes left in the first half and led 27-24 at the end of it.

After Midtown pushed its lead up to its then-largest at 34-28 in the third, Bates scored a putback and then Hefner went on a personal 6-0 run thanks to some good fast-break passing from Kemara Washington leaving Hefner with open layups.

Midtown began its heat-up from 3-point range late in the third quarter, but Hefner hit one of her own to score her 11th point of the third quarter alone. That started the 9-0 Dalton run, and Gracie Ridley powered in for a pair of strong finishes to put Dalton up 45-43 entering the fourth.

Bates capped the run with the first bucket of the fourth, then Midtown’s run turned the game south for Dalton.

Hefner finished with four 3-pointers and her team-leading 22 points in what became her final game as a Lady Catamount.

Ridley, who also wrapped up her high school career in the game after becoming a two-time region player of the year, finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists through some hounding Midtown defense.

Bates had nine, Jolie Wingfield had seven, and senior Kemara Washington had seven in her final game.

Dalton’s four-member senior class — Ridley, Hefner, Washington and Cadence Blackwell — finish up a run in which Dalton won 20 or more games and reached the state playoffs in three consecutive seasons. Prior to that stretch, Dalton had made the playoffs just once in the previous eight seasons. A playoff win last season was the first in the 12 seasons since 2011 as Dalton reached the Sweet 16, and the Lady Catamounts cashed in three more postseason victories this year after celebrating a Region 7-5A championship.