BUFORD — Buford girls coach Gene Durden isn’t concerned about looks.
And it’s a good thing because his Lady Wolves’ 50-37 victory over Eagles Landing Tuesday in the Class 5A quarterfinals at The Buford Arena was not exactly a work of art.
“That second half certainly was not pretty, but as they say, ‘I’d rather win ugly than lose looking good,’ ” he said.
What did look good, however, is that Buford (27-3) won its 12th straight game, closed out its home schedule a perfect 11-0 at The Buford Arena, and the seniors improved to 16-1 in the playoffs during their four-year careers.
“The goal is to advance and we did that. This group has just always found ways to win and they did that again tonight,” Durden said. “I wasn’t happy with our execution in the second half but I was proud of how they just kept playing hard.”
The pressing defense of the Lady Wolves and the zone of the Lady Golden Eagles dictated the action in the first half and the two teams’ traded four lead changes with two ties in the first 4:40 of the game. Eagles Landing took their only lead, 7-6, on a Jaleah Storr 3-pointer, which was matched by Buford’s Tory Ozment moments later and Buford never trailed again.
Buford’s press dominated the Eagles Landing offense in the first half creating 17 turnovers. But the Lady Wolves could not take full advantage, generating just 10 points off the miscues. Buford led just 13-9 after the first quarter.
The Buford offense, however, eventually found seams in the Eagles Landing zone, using a 16-3 second quarter run to take control with a 35-16 halftime lead after Ozment buried a running 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Lady Wolves had nine assists on 14 first half baskets. Mary Walters dished out four assists alone during the run.
“I thought we did a great job in the first half of running the offense and finding some cutters. We needed that because we did not do a good job of using those turnovers to get transition baskets,” Durden said.
But as good as the first half was, the second half proved the proverbial grind. In the third quarter, the two offenses combined for a measley 11 points and 11 combined turnovers as Buford took a 40-22 lead into the fourth quarter.
Eagles Landing, a pressing team by nature, finally broke out its own defensive weapon and used seven fourth quarter Buford turnovers to help close the gap 47-35 with 1:31 left in the game. Ozment, however, hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 48 seconds to preserve the win.
“There is always one game that is the grinder and this one was it,” Durden said. “Again, it wasn’t pretty but we get to move on and that’s all that matters.”
A key to the game was the Buford defense containing Eagles Landing leading scorer Ashley Foster. The senior scored a season-low 2 points on just 1-of-11 shooting for the game.
“We knew what she could do and we just tried to make sure we had someone on her at all times,” Durden said. “That was a big key for us.”
Meanwhile, Buford’s leader, Ozment, finished with 16 points and five rebounds to lead Buford. Tate Walters added 9 for the Lady Wolves, who had 10 different players score.
Kierra Howard paced the Lady Golden Eagles with 11 points. Mariyah Fletcher added 10 points and Storr finished with 10 points for Eagles Landing.
The Class 5A tournament will now move to Fort Valley and Buford will take on Villa Rica, a 61-44 winner over Fayette County, in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Fort Valley State University.
