MT. AIRY, Ga. — It was not the way Habersham Central girls coach Bill Bradley wanted his seniors to go out. However, he also knew playoff experience of any kind for a young team with nine freshmen and sophomores is hard to turn down.
“Getting this kind of experience for the young players is invaluable (for their future),” Bradley said. “Just wish we could have had a better finish for our seniors.”
Despite being the higher-seeded team in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs, the Lady Raiders were no real match for a big, physical South Paulding squad in a 58-29 loss on Tuesday at home to end their season.
Poor shooting, turnovers, and a solid defensive effort by South Paulding hampered the young Lady Raiders right from the beginning. South Paulding (13-17) never trailed, opening the game with a 6-0 run. The Lady Spartans quickly built a 14-5 lead after the first quarter and pushed it to 28-13 by halftime.
Habersham Central’s Kyia Barrett, playing in her final game, was held to just one first-quarter field goal in the first half. As a group, they were just 5-of-19 shooting and just 2-of-14 from inside the 3-point line.
“You know, we are not a great shooting team, but we've had a couple of games where we shot it well,” Bradley said, “I was hoping (South Paulding) would play man because I've seen them play man, and I felt like we could cut it to pieces to the rim. But when they went with a big, big wide zone, they were saying, ‘beat us from the outside,’ and we just couldn’t make any shots.”
Karah Dean was the only Lady Raider to find any range, hitting on a trio of 3-pointers for 9 of their 13 first-half points. Habersham Central did force 10 Lady Spartans turnovers in the opening 16 minutes but produced no points off of those turnovers while also committing 9 turnovers to disrupt any offensive rhythm.
Habersham Central (10-15) pulled with 30-17 early in the third quarter on baskets from freshman Daytona Underwood and senior Sophie Bramlett. South Paulding answered with a 9-2 run for a 39-17 lead to cast aside any thoughts the Lady Raiders had of trying to make their third Sweet 16 appearance in four seasons.
The Lady Spartans took a 43-22 lead into the fourth quarter, and Bramlett knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to open the fourth to get Habersham Central back within 46-28. But South Paulding closed out the game on a 12-1 run for their first-ever playoff win in program history.
Bramlett led Habersham Central with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Dean finished with 9 for the Lady Raiders. Barrett, who battled injuries much of the beginning of the season, closed out her career with just 3 points and one field goal.
Lana VanDyke, meanwhile, dominated the paint with 19 points, and sister Chloe VanDyke added 10 points for South Paulding. Lindsey Henry had 11 points for the Lady Spartans.
