GHS seniors finish unprecedented run

GAINESVILLE - The Gainesville girls basketball team's 57-30 destruction of Fannin County Saturday night in the Region 7-AAA final at Chestatee High School capped an unprecedented run by the senior class.

Led by All-State selection Tasha Humphrey, the six Gainesville seniors captured their fourth straight region championship.

"It's never been done by the girls program before and its something we had as a goal this year," Gainesville coach Manson Hill said. "They worked hard for it and deserve it."

The game was close in the first quarter with Gainesville (24-3) leading just 10-7. Behind a solid defensive effort early, Fannin was in the game trailing just 17-11 late in the first half.

But behind its own defensive pressure, Gainesville would begin a 34-9 run that would not end until early in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't run our offense very well, but that had a lot to do with their defense. It was unbelievable (tonight)," Fannin coach Johnny Farmer said. "You try to limit the runs they have but when you can't even get a shot off, it's tough to hold them back."

Gainesville will play the No. 4 seed from Region 6-AAA in the state tournament beginning Friday at Gainesville High School. Fannin will play the No. 3 seed.

Johnson is the No. 3 seed and Flowery Branch the No. 4 seed from Region 7-AAA.

The Gainesville offense, which had struggled in two previous games in the tournament, executed better the final 2 1/2 quarters. Humphrey, who finished with just 10 points, dished out 7 assists to get the Lady Elephants rolling. Kita Waller led Gainesville with 13 points and Meg Henson had 9 - all on 3-pointers.

"Our offense is better when we don't force things and we did a much better job (tonight) than the last couple of games," Hill said.

Farmer said he and his squad were drained.

"The two close games we had before this kind of took a lot out of us," Farmer said. "I just thought that we would we played a little better and given them a better game."

Senior Stephanie Searce and sophomore Tasha Anderson led Fannin (23-5) with 10 points each. Fannin's Melissa Roberts was held to just 4 points and 4 rebounds.