MACON, Ga. — Sooner or later, a slow-scoring night was going to catch up with North Forsyth.
Unfortunately, it was in the Class 6A state championship on Friday.
Marist (30-1), on the other hand, had no issue en route to a 67-48 win over the Lady Raiders (31-1) in the Class 6A title game at the Macon Coliseum.
The Lady War Eagles took advantage of a seven-point North Forsyth second-quarter output to take control of the game, and the Lady Raider defense allowed Kate Harpring and her supporting cast to rule the court.
"We had a little off-shooting night," North Forsyth coach Brad Kudlas said. "They're a good team and did a good job of making us pay when we missed the box out or when we had a missed defensive assignment.
Kate Harpring scored 13 of her game-high 27 points in the first half, and Abby Lindsay was huge in the first half beyond the 3-point line, hitting 3-of-5 attempts for 11 of her 13 points. Hannah Faklaris finished the night with 16 points. Marist shot 63.4 percent from the field.
"No. 14 (Abby Lindsay) went off in the second quarter, hitting three 3-pointers,” Kudlas said. "We knew (Kate) Harpring was going to get hers; it was about denying the supporting cast. No. 14 (Lindsay) had 13 points, and No. 13 (Hannah Faklaris) went for 16 points. That was really the difference in the game."
The Lady Raiders opened red-hot, hitting 58.3 percent from the field, while taking a 14-9 lead off a Gabbie Gliatta layup in the first quarter. But the Lady War Eagles started to heat up late in the second quarter, finishing on a 5-2 run to tie the game at the end of the first quarter, 16-16.
Marist continued its hot streak in the second quarter, taking control of the game off a Lindsay layup to open the quarter, giving the Lady War Eagles their first lead, 18-16. Harpring then converted a NoFo turnover on a reverse layup, followed by a Lindsay 3-pointer to push the lead up to 23-16 with 5:51 go.
NoFo answered with back-to-back buckets—a 3-pointer from Gabbie Gliatta and a baseline jumper from London Weaver- to close the game, 28-23. However, Marist scored four straight points to end the half up 32-23.
In the second half, Marist extended its lead thanks to 10 points from Harpring, 44-28, with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Marist led at the end of the third quarter, 54-38, and extended its lead to 20 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Raiders finished the game, shooting 42.2 percent from the field. Gliatta led the Lady Raiders with 16 points, Weaver had 15, Emma Rose had 10, Abby Traver finished with four, and Addison Peck had three.
"I'm so proud of this team," Kudlas said. "This team had a special season. You know, I thought we had a good chance tonight, but it just wasn't our night."
