Region 8-AAAA: JHS, Buford boys, Buford, Chestatee girls advance to finals

OAKWOOD -- The Region 8-AAAA semifinals at the Johnson gym Friday night played out almost true to form.<br /> <br /> The top-seeded Buford girls dominated Madison County, the Johnson boys held off a scrappy North Hall team, the Buford boys started slow before pulling away in the second half to beat Monroe Area, while the Chestatee girls pulled off the only upset of the night, knocking off North Hall as all four teams advanced to Saturday's finals at Johnson.<br /> <br /> Chestatee will take on Buford in the 7 p.m. girls final while Johnson and Buford will tangle at 8:30 p.m.<br /> <br /> North Hall and Madison County will play in the girls consolation game for the third seed at 4 p.m. and the Monroe Area and North Hall boys will play in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. at Johnson.<br /> <br /> <b>CHESTATEE GIRLS 54<br /> NORTH HALL 41</b><br /> <br /> The sixth-seeded but defending champion Lady War Eagles pulled off a masterful game plan to knock off the No. 2 seed Lady Trojans and advance to the championship game.<br /> <br /> In an effort to limit a high-scoring North Hall attack, Chestatee slowed it down at times and got timely shooting early on. Even Lady War Eagles coach Web Daniel was a little stunned to see his young squad have a chance to repeat.<br /> <br /> "I never dreamed we would get back to the finals," Daniel said. "We lost a lot from last year and have a lot of younger girls. But they came out and executed what we wanted to do. They played great defense and made shots. It's a tremendous feeling right now."<br /> <br /> Chestatee (16-11) was coming off perhaps its ugliest win of the season in a 20-19 victory over White County in the quarterfinals. Daniel admitted his young group felt some playoff jitters in that one.<br /> <br /> Chestatee showed no sign of jitters this time. The Lady War Eagles nearly matched their quarterfinal total in the first quarter as they came out firing. Sophomore Brooklyn Popham drained four 3-pointers in the opening quarter as they ran out to an 18-7 lead.<br /> <br /> Chestatee, which led from start-to-finish, maintained 10-plus point lead throughout the second quarter as both teams turned up the defensive pressure. Both teams forced six turnovers in the quarter but Chestatee was able to take a 28-16 lead into halftime.<br /> <br /> The Lady War Eagles kept up the pressure in the third quarter behind Kayla Watson, who had six points and an assist in an 8-2 run to help Chestatee build a 41-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.<br /> <br /> North Hall (16-11) stayed within striking distance climbing within eight points twice, the final time at 48-40 on a basket by Kensi Gillespie with 2:57 left. But Chestatee's Dawndria Bell drained a long 3-pointer 20 seconds later for a 51-40 lead and North Hall would manage just one free throw the rest of the way.<br /> <br /> Popham finished with 15 points to lead Chestatee. Watson added 11 points and four assists, and Bell had 10 points for the Lady War Eagles.<br /> <br /> Taylor Anne Kelley had 19 points to lead North Hall before fouling out late. Sadie Cleveland had 11 points for the Lady Trojans.<br /> <br /> <b>JOHNSON BOYS 68<br /> NORTH HALL 59</b><br /> <br /> It was a game of runs as Johnson jumped out to an 11-0 lead behind Ty Cockfield, who scored all 11 points in the first 3:46 of the game. North Hall answered in a big way with a 20-6 run, capped by a Harrison Harper 3-pointer for a 20-17 lead early in the second quarter.<br /> <br /> The Trojans would take a 30-26 lead into halftime and it looked like a second upset in four games was in play. But Johnson coach Jeff Steele told his Class AAAA second-ranked group at the break it was time to turn things up a notch.<br /> <br /> "I wasn't real comfortable with our start because you tend to rely on that too much and I knew North Hall was going to make a run," Steele said. "The third quarter was all about stepping up our defense. That was the key."<br /> <br /> The Knights (26-0) came out like they were protecting their lunch money. They exploded for a 12-0 run in the first two minutes with Roderick English getting things started with a 3-pointer. Cockfield finished it with a three-point play for a quick 38-30 lead.<br /> <br /> Defense was the catalyst as Johnson forced three consecutive North Hall turnovers to spark the run and converted them into seven points.<br /> <br /> "That was the key part of the game," Steele said. "We have to play defense if we want to keep winning games. We did not do a good job in the first half. You saw the difference in the third quarter when we decide to guard people."<br /> <br /> North Hall (14-13) would not get closer until Brock Wingo drained a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left to pull the Trojans within 63-57. Johnson also would hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to preserve the victory.<br /> <br /> Cockfield finished with a game-high 30 points for Johnson. English added 15 points.<br /> <br /> Carson heinen led North Hall with 18 points. Harper and Evan Easton each had 11 points and Wingo added 10 for the Trojans.<br /> <br /> <b>BUFORD BOYS 74<br /> MONROE AREA 59</b><br /> <br /> Buford had five players score in double-figures as they rallied from an early deficit to advance to the championship game.<br /> <br /> The Wolves (16-11) trailed 13-8 midway through the first period after Monroe Area (16-11) used a 7-0 run to grab the lead. But Tre Hansbrough scored five consecutive points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, as they used an 11-0 run to end the first quarter to grab the lead and never trailed again.<br /> <br /> Buford pushed its lead 11 by halftime with Hansbrough hitting another 3-pointer at the end of the half for a 38-27 lead. The Wolves closed out the third quarter with a 10-4 spurt for a 56-42 lead, its biggest of the game at the time.<br /> <br /> Buford led by as many as 18 three times in the fourth quarter.<br /> <br /> The region championship game appearance is the second straight for Buford, albeit in a new region. The Wolves won Region 7-AAA last season.<br /> <br /> Buford coach Allen Whitehart said getting a win to guarantee at least one home game to open the state playoffs is huge for his group. He wasn't sure what was possible after they suffered a six-game losing streak midway through the season.<br /> <br /> "We talked about that before the game that it's a chance to play at home, where we're a much better team," Whitehart said. "The guys never gave up on what we were trying to do. They kept working and I think that has helped us get here. Now we'll just have to see how we do in the finals."<br /> <br /> Hansbrough finished with 14 points to lead Buford. Taylor Mills, Aaron Auer, and Kyrin Galloway each had 12 points for the Wolves. Galloway also pulled down 11 rebounds and Sahil Patel added 10 points for Buford.<br /> <br /> Marquez Williams had 16 points to pace Monroe Area, who lost for the first time on a neutral court (3-1). Emory Sheets added 15 points for the Purple Hurricanes.<br /> <br /> <b>BUFORD GIRLS 51<br /> MADISON COUNTY 18</b><br /> <br /> Buford (24-3) never trailed but needed an 11-0 run to end the first quarter to take control en route to the victory.<br /> <br /> Madison County (13-14) did not score more than six points in any quarter.<br /> <br /> The Lady Wolves opened with a 6-0 run but Madison County answered with a 5-0 spurt to close the gap. Corey Staples, however, scored four straight points and dished out an assist and Camille Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark Buford's first quarter run that had the Lady Wolves take a 17-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.<br /> <br /> Buford pushed its lead to 30-11 by halftime and then opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run to put the game out of reach.<br /> <br /> Staples finished with 16 points to lead Buford. Anderson finished with 12 points for the Lady Wolves.<br /> <br /> Leah Gearing led Madison County with seven points. The Buford defense held Lady Red Raiders' leading scorer Mya Moss to just four points.