The Trinity Christian Woman Lions scored greater than 5 factors on the James A. Lunsford court docket on Saturday. The truth is, the visiting group at Baldwin Excessive had the main scorer within the sport in Gabbie Grooms and her 23 factors.
However whereas the primary spherical was laughable — the No. 1 Bravettes over Southeast Bulloch 84-5 on Feb. 21 — Kizzi Walker was severely targeted on the playoffs on the “Candy 16.” It labored for a 20-point 62-42 victory, that means the Walker ladies are on their option to the quarterfinals at the moment (Tuesday, Feb. 27) in what needs to be a good harder take a look at at No. 4 Stockbridge Excessive.
Stockbridge, at 21-6, is a regional championship membership from 5-AAAA, however gained 63-61 within the second spherical in opposition to Southwest DeKalb. The GHSA all-around coin toss fell in favor of Stockbridge, making it the house group to face the 26-2 Bravettes.
To get up to now, the Baldwin ladies performed an uncommon sport for them with a low variety of steals, six whole, and second probabilities. However Sharpsburg's Trinity Christian couldn't match junior middle Janaye Walker, who had a double-double with 20 factors and 14 rebounds. Senior Madison Ruff was near a triple-double with 17 factors, six rebounds and 7 assists.
For the primary 5 minutes of the sport, Baldwin struggled in offensive effectivity with factors on simply three possessions. Two of them have been Ruff rushes from begin to end. However the Bravettes by no means trailed the Woman Lions, who had two 3-pointers within the remaining three minutes of the quarter.
The primary of the lengthy photographs got here at 2:45, however then Baldwin made it 9-5 with a 3rd end-to-end spurt by Ruff. Off the bench, senior ZyKeria Paschal made a dribble transfer inside for 2. Additionally on the bench, Ruff's sister Morgan sank a 3 (Madison assisted) to make the rating 17-10.
It was the primary quarter the place Baldwin didn't rating or get a second likelihood. Nevertheless, that final stat modified within the second when JaMya Easley and Walker threw away. Kassidy Neal made her second 3-pointer to create Baldwin's largest lead of the primary half, 27-15.
The Woman Lions added 4 3-pointers to the ledger within the second interval to remain within the sport. They have been down 29-20 once they acquired their first steal 1:14 into the half. For the primary time after making a basket, Ruff made an end-to-end scoring dash for the fourth time. Then, with seven seconds on the clock, Trinity Christian's remaining 3 stretched the halftime result in 5, 33-28.
The guests managed simply seven factors within the third quarter as Baldwin began to steal and get lots of stress from Walker with six factors. 4 of them have been of the second likelihood kind. Factors additionally got here from steals by Pashcal and Madison Ruff. The Bravettes led 48-35 with one quarter remaining.
The play was sloppy within the fourth, however Walker added six extra factors. Trinity Christian made only one area purpose — a 3 — however Ruff adopted with an end-to-end fifth drive to attain the ultimate 20 factors.
Trinity Christian is coached by former College of Georgia All-Southeastern Convention standout Woman Grooms, who performed eight seasons within the WNBA and coached highschool basketball at Arlington Christian, Higher Atlanta Christian and Landmark Christian.
Baldwin and Stockbridge will play for a spot within the GHSA 4A semifinals, which shall be performed Saturday in Ft. Valley State College at 1 p.m
