Thursday March 28th, 2024 6:51AM

Basketball: Lady Indians rally to beat White Co., take top seed in 7-3A

By Jeff Hart | Video by Seth Chapman

CLEVELAND — In a game of runs, it was the last one that propelled the Lumpkin County girls to the regular-season title in Region 7-3A on Friday night.

Isabel Davenport drained a 3-pointer and hit two free throws to ignite and finish off an 11-0 spurt midway through the fourth quarter as the Lady Indians pulled away for a 68-57 win over White County at the White County gym.

The two teams came in tied with the winner taking the No. 1 seed into next week’s legion tournament. The win gave Lumpkin County (20-4, 11-1 Region 7-3A) the top slot while the Lady Warriors (11-8, 10-2 Region 7-3A) will be the No. 2 seed. Both teams already have clinched state playoff berths.

“It was two great teams going at it the entire game,” Lumpkin County coach David Dowse said. “In the second half, we just made some more shots and free throws when we needed to.”

White County roared out to start the game taking a 15-5 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Indians answered with an 18-5 explosion to open the second quarter and eventually took a 31-25 advantage into the intermission.

Lumpkin County pushed its leads to 37-27 early in the third quarter before White County responded with an 11-0 run, capped by a Maddie Futch 3-pointer, her second and the Lady Warriors’ third in a 90-second span. But the Lady Indians answered that with an 8-2 run to end the period for a 45-40 lead and they never trailed again.

Averie Jones finished with a game-high 22 points to lead Lumpkin County. Davenport added 20 points and Lexi Pierce 11, 7 in the fourth quarter, for the Lady Indians.

Futch led White County with 19 points. Dasha Cannon had 15 and Naomi Roberts 11 for the Lady Warriors.

The regular season region title was four years in the making for Dowse and several of the seniors, who had come close the two previous seasons.

“It’s been a process for us,” he said. “We’ve been knocking on the door and I really feel happy for the girls.”

But it took a moment for Dowse to also collect himself. In 33 years as a player and now coach, this is his first taste of a region title, regular season or tournament.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the girls. But it’s nice to see what it feels like,” he said.

  • Associated Categories: Sports, High School Sports
  • Associated Tags: High school basketball, Lumpkin County girls basketball, White County girls basketball
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