Prep sports: Wait for state is over

Published 11:00 pm Monday, February 9, 2015

The Southeast Whitfield High School student section’s T-shirts that read “Awaken the Nation” appear to be accurate.

In the fall, it was their football team breaking its 28-year streak of missing the state playoffs.

On Monday, it was the boys basketball team making new history as the Raiders reached the Class 4A state playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season via a 64-43 win over LaFayette in the first round of the Region 7-4A tournament at Southeast.

The four winners from the eight-team tournament’s first round — which continues today at Southeast — advance to Friday’s semifinals, with those games and Saturday’s third-place and championship matchups determining the seeds for state.

While the basketball team’s state drought may not have stretched across four decades like the football program’s did, it was a streak that second-year coach Jim Case was happy to see come to an end.

“They’re getting more pieces of our (coaching staff’s) game that they’re fitting together in a flow and rhythm,” Case said. “I’m excited in only the second year, they’re really playing well together.”

As for the Lady Raiders, who were seeded fifth entering the region tournament, their season came to a close with a 54-45 loss to No. 4 seed Heritage-Catoosa in the day’s first game. The Lady Generals outscored Southeast 25-8 in the fourth quarter to overcome an eight-point deficit entering the final period.

In other Region 7-4A games Monday, the top seeds on both the boys and girls side advanced as the Heritage boys topped Gilmer 79-44 and the Gilmer girls defeated LaFayette 53-30.

Southeast’s boys, who improved to 11-13, scored a bit of an upset in beating LaFayette (12-13). The Raiders entered the region tournament seeded fifth based on the regular season, while LaFayette was the No. 4 seed, although the two split their regular season series as the home team won each time.

Southeast junior post Noah Ramsey — who scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in Monday’s first quarter — was barely in elementary school the last time Southeast made it to the state tournament.

“It’s a feeling I can’t really describe, but it was one of the best I’ve ever felt,” Ramsey said of helping end the skid for Southeast.

LaFayette had trouble with Ramsey in the opening period as he made five close-range buckets and a 3-pointer while scoring 13 of the first 16 points for Southeast, which was ahead 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.

“That opens up everything else for us,” Case said of getting the ball inside to Ramsey. “We like to call it feeding the beast. If they stop it, we have other things, but we like to get our big man going.”

While Ramsey went scoreless in the second quarter, junior point guard Ty Pendley stepped up to score 10 of his 19 points in the period and helped the Raiders expand their lead to 34-21 at halftime.

Nathan Ensley hit a 3-pointer in every quarter and added a pair of free throws in the fourth as he finished with 14 points as the only other Raider in double figures.

Southeast faces Heritage at 8:30 p.m. Friday with a spot in the region championship on the line.

• Heritage girls 54, Southeast 45: For nearly three quarters, the Lady Generals (12-10) couldn’t find a way to slow down Southeast’s Maddie Pearson.

When they finally figured that out, they seemed to stop the pulse of the Lady Raiders (14-11).

With 4:26 to go in the third quarter, the Lady Raiders led 34-20 and Pearson had 20 points, most of it from behind the 3-point line, where she had made six shots. That’s when the Lady Generals implemented a triangle-and-two defense, with a Heritage player guarding Pearson at all times.

The scheme slowed Pearson while speeding up the Heritage offense, and the Lady Generals outscored Southeast 34-11 the rest of the way.

“We missed a few shots down the stretch and they didn’t,” Lady Raiders coach Mike Durham said. “Things didn’t go our way at the end of the third and (in the) early fourth, we just went cold there.”

Pearson finished with 24 points to lead Southeast, while Jada Hubbard scored 19 for Heritage, which will play Gilmer at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.

• Pinecrest Academy girls 52, Christian Heritage 39: Outscored 23-11 in the fourth quarter, the Lady Lions were eliminated in the opening round of the Region 6-A tournament at Whitefield Academy in Mableton.

It was likely the final game of the season for Christian Heritage (8-15), although not strictly because it was a loss early in the region tournament. Class A basketball teams make the state playoffs based on their position in the Georgia High School Association’s power ratings — a system factoring in win-loss records and strength of schedule — with 16 teams each making the private school and public school brackets and region champions earning automatic bids ahead of others in the ratings.

The Lady Lions were 28th in the most recent ratings, which will be updated for the final time next week.

Against Pinecrest, Sarah Massengale led with 13 points, while Pressley Poag and Sydney Stafford each added nine for Christian Heritage, which trailed 8-7, 15-14 and 29-28 at the quarter breaks.

“They were just a good team, very athletic, and they just wore us down by the time we got to the fourth quarter,” said first-year Christian Heritage coach Gerald Porter. “I think we’ve lost seven games this year by two points or less, so that’s something we can build on.”

Massengale, a senior who tallied more than 1,000 points in her varsity career and led the Lady Lions in scoring most games this season, will be hard to replace. But Porter is optimistic about the potential of others.

“We saw more balanced scoring the last part of the season, so that was very encouraging — we’ll need that next year,” he said. “We’ve got some talented girls coming up, and I think the future’s bright for our girls program.”

Christian Heritage’s boys finished outside of the top four in the Sub-region 6A-A standings, keeping them out of the Region 6-A tournament. With the No. 28 spot in the most recent power ratings, the Lions (11-13) are also likely done for the year.

• Gordon Central girls 49, Coahulla Creek 40: Sydney Storey led with 14 points and Macey Fossett added 10 points, but the Lady Colts came up short in the opening round of the Region 6-3A tournament at Calhoun High School, just three days after a 44-41 home win over Gordon Central to close the regular season.

Coahulla Creek, which also beat Gordon Central 40-30 on Jan. 6 in Calhoun, couldn’t overcome the Lady Warriors’ 22-for-26 performance at the foul line in the second half of Monday’s game. Gordon Central led 15-7, 22-19 and 33-23 at the quarter breaks on its way to earning a second-round matchup with Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe at 7 p.m. today.

“That free throw percentage was unbelievable, so hats off to them — that sealed the game for them,” Lady Colts coach Ryan Long said. “(Gordon Central) played well tonight, but I’m proud of our girls. We battled injuries all this year, but coming in here they gave them everything they had.”

JV boys soccer

• Southeast 6, Cartersville 1: Six players scored as the Raiders turned a 2-0 halftime lead into a season-opening rout on the road.

Juan Enriquez, Adrian Garcia, Noe Rodriguez, Arnold Ruiz, Erick Sanchez and Rivaldo Sandate each contributed a goal, while Ricardo Servin made three saves in goal for Southeast.