GAINESVILLE, Ga. — There’s not much to be said for moral victories, and Chestatee girls coach Sutton Shirley doesn’t believe in them.
But Chestatee gave Class 4A No. 2 Griffin its toughest challenge to date in the 2023 playoffs, despite a 66-47 loss in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Lynn Cottrell Center.
The 47 points are the most the Lady Bears have surrendered in the playoffs. Chestatee led twice in the first half, the only time Griffin has trailed so far in the playoffs. However, a loss is a loss, Shirley said.
“Our program is at a level where there is no such thing as moral victories,” he said. “We lost, so in the end, none of that really matters. But I’ll tell you one thing; I can’t be more proud of the effort these girls gave tonight. They never quit.”
Griffin (25-4) sported four Division I players, and the defensive reputation of the second-ranked Lady Bears was on full display the entire game. They forced two quick Chestatee turnovers to fuel a 5-0 run to start the game.
But Caroline Bull shot the Lady War Eagles back in it, hitting her first three 3-pointers, including one with 1:47 left in the first quarter to cap a 10-4 run for a 10-9 lead. Griffin answered with a 6-0 run behind three inside baskets to retake the lead at 15-10, but Bull struck again with a 3-pointer late in the period to cut it to 15-13.
Three straight points from Riley Black gave Chestatee the lead again at 16-15 early in the second quarter, but a defensive change by the Lady Bears over the final six minutes turned the game around.
Against a ferocious full-court press, the Lady War Eagles' offense was forced into quick shots, and they missed their next seven as Griffin’s Leah Turner took over. The senior guard poured in eight points, including a strip steal and layup with 1:53 left in the half to cap a 12-0 run for a 27-16 lead.
But Black scored five straight points to get Chestatee back within 29-21 before Turner scored the final four points of the half for a 31-21 Griffin advantage at the break. That was as close as the Lady War Eagles would get as Turner poured in 15 first-half points for the Lady Bears.
Bull had 11 points, and Black 10 for Chestatee, as no other players were able to score in the opening 16 minutes. The Lady War Eagles struggled from the field, mightily hitting just 6-of-23 shots in the first half.
Hoping for a quick start of their own to the third quarter, Chestatee instead went nearly four minutes without scoring as Griffin used three turnovers to spark an 8-0 run for a 39-21 lead. Two more Bull 3-pointers closed the gap to 44-29 late in the third quarter, but a 6-0 spurt by Griffin over the last 2:30 of the period for a 50-29 lead essentially sealed any comeback attempts.
“That run (for Griffin) to start the third quarter was hard for us to come back from,” Shirley said. “We could have sat back in a half-court defense and been content with a 12 to 15 points loss, but these kids want to win; they want to compete. They fought the entire game. Couldn’t be proud of a group of girls than this one.”
The Lady War Eagles made one last push as Bull hit a pair of free throws, Sierra Yarbrough hit a basket, Addison Boyd drained a 3-pointer, and Black capped a 9-2 run to open the fourth to pull back within 52-38 with nearly six minutes left. But Turner hit her second 3-pointer of the game to ignite a 9-3 run to answer for a 61-41 lead.
Both teams went to their reserves over the final three minutes.
Bull paced Chestatee with 19 points. Black, who was double-teamed most of the night, had 12 and was held to just 2 second-half points. Boyd finished with 9, all in the fourth quarter, for the Lady War Eagles.
Turner finished with 20 points for Griffin. But the 6-foot-plus inside duo of Zy Thompson and Aaliyah Duranham were the real difference makers. Thompson had 22 points, and 13 rebounds, and Duranham added 14 points and 9 rebounds as Chestatee had no real answer underneath.
The Lady Bears move to play Hardaway in the Class 4A semifinals on Friday in Perry.
