OAKWOOD — It was the ultimate contrast.
A smallish West Hall led by dynamic sharp-shooter Anna McKendree versus a mountain of a Columbus team led by 6-foot-3 bookends Tatyana Wyatt (Kentucky signee) and Ariyah Copeland (Alabama signee) -- in fact, the Lady Blue Devils feature five players 6-1 or taller.
In the end, the mountain proved just a little too high for the Lady Spartans, who dropped a heartbreaking 50-47 decision to the Lady Blue Devils on Wednesday night in the second round of the Class AAAA playoffs.
Columbus (22-5) moves on to the quarterfinal round and will travel to Spalding next week. The season comes to a disappointing end for the Lady Spartans (23-6) who suffered their first home loss of the season.
McKendree did everything she could to give West Hall a chance pouring in 31 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. The only thing she couldn’t do was get one of her final two game-tying 3-point attempts in the waning seconds to find its mark.
“We couldn’t ask any more of her,” West Hall coach Bryan Richerson. “Anna is a fighter and she fought, and the whole team really, fought until the very end. I couldn’t be more proud of a group.”
The two teams traded the lead eight times through 2 1/2 quarters with West Hall taking its biggest first half lead at 25-20 late in the second quarter on a McKendree steal and layup and another McKendree steal and layup gave the Lady Spartans a 27-23 lead.
West Hall stormed out to a 32-25 lead early in the third quarter on an old-fashioned three-point play by McKendree. But the Lady Blue Devils closed out the period on a 15-1 run over the final 5:16 to grab a 40-33 advantage.
The Lady Spartans pulled within two points twice in the final two minutes, the last time coming at 48-46 on a Avery Prather steal and layup with 1:43 remaining. But West Hall missed its final five shots while Columbus slammed the door with five key offensive rebounds to keep control of the ball.
Despite an obvious height disadvantage, West Hall held its own on the boards getting outrebounded just 28-22 for the game. Wyatt finished with 21 points and seven rebounds and Copeland has 12 points and 13 rebounds to pace Columbus.
“Honestly we did exactly what we wanted to do on defense,” Richerson said. “But it’s tough when you have two players that are 6-3 or taller to defend when you don’t have a lot of height. The girls fought and really played well.
“But they had run that when they went inside and out and we just had trouble stopping them. We did a great job to get back in it but just couldn’t make enough plays at the end.”
Senior Macy Passmore chipped in with eight points for West Hall but was held scoreless in the second half. Senior Prather had just four points.
Richerson got misty-eyed talking about his group of seniors, which also includes Danielle Hinkelman and Megan English.
“I came in with these girls and they have built to this moment,” he said.”We felt like this was a championship-caliber matchup and I thought we played well enough to win. These girls have nothing to hang their head about.”
The Lady Spartans, and McKendree in particular, came out on fire. McKendree had six quick points in the opening minute and finished with nine of West Hall’’s 11 first quarter points. Columbus did not take its first lead until 14-13 on a three-point play early in the second quarter.
A Passmore 3-pointer capped a 6-2 run for a 19-16 lead before McKendree’s steals gave the Lady Spartans the halftime lead.
