COAL MOUNTAIN — The 1-for-23 stat from 3-point range is all you need to understand the 51-40 Grayson victory over No. 1 North Forsyth on Friday in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs at Raider Arena.
It was the first home loss of the season for the Lady Raiders (24-4) who came in a perfect 14-0 at Raider Arena on the season.
“Normally we shoot well but we just couldn’t get anything to fall tonight,” a dejected Lady Raiders’ coach Brad Kudlas said afterwards. “If just a few of those fall, especially when we cut it to four points, it’s a different game. We had our chances but it just didn’t happen.”
Grayson grabbed the opening tip and never trailed. Senior Catherine Alben got things going with a stick-back basket and freshman Tatum Brown had a driving layup moments later for a 4-0 lead in the opening 58 seconds. Alben added a 3-pointer and sophomore Erin Rodgers converted a steal and layup and it was 9-0 barely two minutes in.
“We came out flat and they jumped on us and we just never were able to catch back up,” Kudlas said.
Grayson coach Tim Slater, who led another Gwinnett County team, Lanier, to the 2019 Class 6A state title, said the plan was to try and take away the plethora of Lady Raiders shooters. Mission accomplished.
“We came out fast and that helped but our girls have really bought into playing the kind of defense we want and they did a great job of contesting their shooters,” Slate said. “You have to guard them because that team can really shoot. That was probably the key to the game.”
The Lady Raiders finally got on the board when senior Maddie Erickson converted an offensive rebound into a basket, but Brown and Alben converted two more North Forsyth turnovers into baskets for a 13-2 lead. The Lady Raiders climbed back into the game with a 10-5 run into the second quarter to trail just 18-12 despite shooting just 5-of-20 overall, and 0-for-12 on 3-pointers, to that point.
The Lady Rams (22-5) took control late in the half when Alben and Rodgers hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 8-0 run to close the final 5:58 of the half for a 28-14 advantage.
It didn’t get any better for North Forsyth. The Lady Raiders went 0-for-6 on 3-pointers in the third quarter as they trailed 38-26. But the biggest blow may have been senior Anna Gliatta having to leave late in the period with another injury to the shoulder she hurt during the Region 6-7A tournament.
Leah Hall finally broke the long drought with a trey early in the fourth to cut the Grayson lead to 40-31.
“We hated it for Anna to get hurt again and that was a big loss,” Kudlas said. “We were on the bench thinking, ‘okay, here we go finally.’ But nothing else fell.”
Alben answered Hall’s 3-pointer with her fourth of the game moments later to push it back to 43-31 with 6:14 left. The Lady Raiders made one final push, using another 8-0 run to get within 43-39 on a Erickson basket with 3:01 left.
But that was as close as they would get.
Brown and Alben played keep away with the North Forsyth defense and Rodgers converted a pair of huge baskets for a 47-40 lead with 1:20 remaining.
Grayson missed a pair of 1-and-1 attempts but a North Forsyth turnover and two Brown free throws with 24 seconds left sealed it for the Lady Rams.
Fittingly, North Forsyth missed its final five treys, including two in the final seconds, as the time clicked off to what they had hoped would be a run to their first-ever finals.
“This group is such a great group,” Kudlas said. “They’re the only group to win four straight region titles and gave us everything they had. It’s unfortunate when you have this kind of great matchup this early in the playoffs but to be the best, you have to beat the best. We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Erin Whelan finished with 16 points to lead North Forsyth. Erickson had 9 points, Gliatta 6, Hall 5, and Haelim Adle 4 for the Lady Raiders.
Alben paced Grayson with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Brown added 14 points and Rodgers had 9 for the Lady Rams.
Grayson next will take on the Woodstock-Harrison winner in the quarterfinals.
