BUFORD — It’s not often when the Buford girls get beaten by their own game.
But Lovejoy did just that as the Lady Wildcats used their quickness on defense to take a 49-42 win over the Lady Wolves on Tuesday at The Buford Arena in the Class 6A quarterfinals.
Buford (26-1) was held to just 6-of-27 from 3-point range and 11 turnovers through the first three quarters stifled any real offensive flow. The Lady Wolves came in averaging 63.7 points per game but were held to their lowest output of the season. It also snapped a 35-game win streak by Buford going back to last season.
Lady Wolves coach Gene Durden had reminded anyone who would listen during the season that Class 6A would be their biggest challenge to date. He was right.
“(Lovejoy) have a great squad,” Durden said. “Things didn’t go well for us that usually do. They just put us in a lot of bad decision-making situations on offense.”
Lovejoy (20-5) is no stranger to high-caliber play having captured the 2018 6A title and finishing as runners-up in 2019. But Buford had won four consecutive state titles -- all in Class 5A -- and was coming in undefeated at home (14-0).
Buford, known for turning over opposing offenses at a high rate with its suffocating press, could do little to slow down the speedy Lady Wildcats.
“We weren’t swarming with our press like we usually do. We seemed a step slower all night,” Durden said.
Lovejoy (20-5) trailed just once -- at 10-9 on an Abbi Perkins basket to open the second quarter -- after opening the game with a 9-2 spurt. The Lady Wildcats answered the Perkins basket with a 9-1 run and Buford (26-1) would only get as close as four points the rest of the way.
Lovejoy led 9-8 after the first quarter and 22-17 at halftime as the Lady Wildcats held Buford to less than 10 points in each quarter. The third quarter was no better for the Lady Wolves, who fell behind by 14 points as Lovejoy used an 11-2 run, fueled by four Buford turnovers, for a 38-24 lead.
But as bleak as things looked, Blair Wallis gave the Buford offense the jolt it needed, draining a 3-pointer just before the end of the period to pull the Lady Wolves within 38-27. At that point, Buford was just 2-for-18 from beyond the arc.
Sara Viti opened the fourth quarter with a stick back basket and knocked down a 3-pointer of her own to get Buford within 38-32 with over six minutes left. The Buford defense finally found some traction forcing three straight Lovejoy turnovers and less than two minutes later Viti and Ava Grace Watson hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to get Buford within striking distance at 42-38.
But the Lady Wildcats answered with their own defensive pressure again and forced Buford to miss 7 of its last 9 shots, both driving baskets by Watson. Lovejoy hit 3-of-5 free throws over the final 35 seconds to seal it and almost appropriately Buford’s final miss of the night was a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“I was extremely proud of how the girls came back in the fourth quarter,” Durden said. “Blair’s shot at the end of the third quarter and then Sara hitting (a 3-pointer) got us back in the game and gave us a chance. But we just needed to move the ball more on offense and we weren’t able to do that.”
Watson finished with 16 points to lead Buford. Wallis, Viti, and Tatum Ozment all had 6 points for the Lady Wolves.
Bryanna Hardy paced Lovejoy with 11 points. La’Nya Foster had 10 and Bryanna Preston 8 for the Lady Wildcats.
In a rarity for Buford, Lovejoy had more players score (8) than the Lady Wolves (7).
Durden said despite the loss, he was grateful just to be in the position to play.
“I’m just thankful we got here,” he said. “We missed a lot of days because of COVID. It didn’t look like we would get a season in, and we got to play. We had our first undefeated regular season.
“The girls are hurting but we told them with all that had gone on this season, there was a lot to be thankful for.”
