Southeast girls earn another shot at LFO

Published 10:33 pm Monday, February 22, 2010

Southeast Whitfield’s girls coupled double-digit scoring from Haley Lock and Briana Sosebee with a tenacious defensive effort to beat Carrollton 50-39 in the Region 6-3A basketball tournament semifinals on Monday night at Cartersville High School.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Lady Raiders coach Elizabeth Crane said. “You have no idea how proud I am of these girls.”

Southeast (16-11) will play nemesis Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (23-5) at 7 tonight in Cartersville for the title.

The Lady Warriors, ranked No. 7 in the latest GaSports.com Class 3A coaches poll, knocked off Ringgold 46-31 on Monday to create the championship showdown. It was LFO’s fourth win over Ringgold this season; the Lady Warriors have beaten Southeast three times this season as well, including a 45-34 win in the Sub-region 6A-3A title game last week.

“They’re in our heads a little bit, but we’re excited to have another shot at them” Crane said. “The girls are focused on getting the job done this time. We’re playing well and we have nothing to lose.”

Win or lose tonight, the Lady Raiders, the No. 2 seed from Sub-region 6A-3A, will advance to the Class 3A state tournament for the first time in 10 years and have locked up their first winning season in a decade as well.

Nailing down a region title would be nice, too.

“Well, we just need to come out play hard the whole game and forget all about our past games against LFO,” said Sosebee, a junior forward who had 14 points and eight rebounds against defending state champion Carrollton, which cut Southeast’s 33-19 halftime lead to 37-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

Senior Haley Lock led the Lady Raiders with 15 points and also had four rebounds and three assists in the victory.

“I’m shaking with joy,” Lock said. “It’s amazing, pretty awesome. As soon as the game was over, I rushed over and hugged the other two seniors (Whitney Napier and TaQuasha O’Neal). This win won’t make our heads get too big for LFO. We’ll go in focused and determined to do what we have to do.”

Danielle Pearson finished with seven points, five rebounds and three assists for Southeast.

Raven Trammell scored nine points for Carrollton (20-7)), the No. 1 seed from Sub-region 6B-3A and the winner of 11 straight games and 15 of its past 16 going into Monday’s semifinal.

“We played extremely well defensively,” Crane said. “We did everything that had to be done to slow them down.”

Southeast held Carrollton to nine points in the first quarter and eight in the fourth.

In the early boys semifinal, Ringgold beat Central Carroll 50-44. The score from the late boys semifinal between Cartersville and Carrollton was not available at The Daily Citizen’s deadline.

Varsity soccer

• Northwest Whitfield’s boys and girls season openers at LaFayette were not played Monday because of wet field conditions. Bruins coach Ryan Scoggins said he did not yet know if the matches would be made up.

Varsity tennis

• Dalton girls 5, Ringgold 0: The Lady Catamounts opened their season with a non-region victory at home.

Singles wins came from No. 1 Audrey Puryear (6-0, 6-2), No. 2 Mary May Wilson (6-0, 6-0) and No. 3 Emily Harbin (6-0, 6-0). In doubles, No. 1 Malaka Awad and McKensi Carlisi (6-0, 6-0) and No. 2 Vivian Butler and Clara Norfleet (6-1, 6-2) were the winners.

• Dalton boys 4, Ringgold 1: Winners in the Cats’ season opener were No. 1 Hunter Carson (6-0, 6-3), No. 2 Price Puryear (6-2, 6-3) and Blake Garrett (led 5-3 before opponent forfeited) in singles, plus at No. 1 doubles, Sam Batts and Mitchell Wilson (6-1, 6-1).

• Northwest girls 4, LFO 1: The Lady Bruins are also 1-0 after sweeping singles and getting an 8-1 doubles victory in pro-set play from the No. 2 team of Samantha Allen and Laney Forester. Singles wins were provided by No. 1 Adrienne Orem, 8-0, No. 2 Emma Jones, 8-2, and No. 3 Kelsey Rice, 8-2.

In an exhibition match, Brittany Parks and Carolyn Davis teamed up for an 8-2 win.

• Northwest boys 3, LFO 2: The Bruins won their opener against Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe behind pro-set play victories from Dillon Flood at No. singles, 8-1, plus doubles wins from the No. 1 team of Ben Johnson and Ashton Avery, 8-6, and the No. 2 team of Austin Poole and Nathan Davies, 8-1.