FORT VALLEY, Ga. — They couldn’t have scripted it any better in Hollywood.
Trailing by one. Season on the line. Just 3 seconds left. Cherokee Bluff girls coach Kasie Scott said there was only one option.
“Either Claire (Carlson) or Bristol (Kersh was going to get the ball,” she said.
Good plan.
Kersh’s floating bank shot at the buzzer gave the Lady Bears a thrilling 56-55 win over Jenkins on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Class 3A playoffs at Fort Valley State University.
It was a frantic last possession as Kersh caught, fumbled, then regathered the ball all in one motion before letting loose the biggest shot in Cherokee Bluff history.
It also capped a wild 20 seconds that saw the two teams exchange the lead three times.
Claire Carlson’s rainbow 3-pointer had given Bluff a 54-53 lead with 17 seconds left. The Lady Warriors reclaimed the lead on a beautiful dish from Aniyah Browner to Taylor Young for an easy layup with 10 seconds remaining. Then it was Kersh’s turn.
“I lost the ball then got it back and I knew I had to get a shot up and it went it in,” Kersh said while still chest-bumping with her teammates. “Just crazy. So much fun to win this with the team. Still hard to believe we won.”
Scott, however, wasn’t that surprised.
“Big-time players make big-time plays. Just a great play,” Scott reiterated while also still trying to soak in the moment of knowing they will be playing for the program’s first-ever state title.
“You're going to face adversity. Every coach will tell you that, and it's just how you keep responding to it. And our girls responded. We won the big games when we needed to. We responded in the playoffs. Now we got one more game to go.”
Bluff advances to the Class 3A championship in Macon on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Macon Centreplex. The Lady Bears will play the winner of the Fayette County/Baldwin winner for the title.
Kersh admitted there were some moments during the season when a spot in Macon did not seem on the horizon.
“I’m not gonna lie, the first part of the season, I didn't think we'd be here,” she said. “But as we got further and further to the last part of the season, I knew that we could. We didn’t play that great today but I think we all felt coming in we could win this.”
But it was Jenkins who jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead, capped by a 3-pointer from I'yarna Lee. After shaking off some early nerves, Bluff answered with a 7-0 with baskets by Carlson and Phillips to take a 10-7 lead.
The Lady Warriors answered that with a 10-2 spurt to close out the period by swiping a pair of steals to give them a 17-12 lead. They continued to push their advantage with a Lee driving layup and a Keara Jones stickback basket for a 22-12 lead early in the second.
The Lady Bears stayed in the game by dominating the boards, outrebounding Jenkins 28-17. Halle Wilson finished with 11 rebounds and limited Young to just 6 points and only two field goals for the game. They also forced 18 turnovers.
And Kersh finally got going, powering a 13-3 lead with 7 points and an assist as the Lady Bears stormed back to tie the game at 25 midway through the second quarter. The teams would exchange baskets from there, with Carlson scoring off a Neena Harbuck assist in the final minute to cut Jenkins’s lead to 34-33 at the half.
“Halle was a big, big part of the game for us,” Kersh said. “She was a big player (inside) and did a great job. We trust her.”
Carlson opened the second half with the second of her four 3-pointers to reclaim the lead for the Lady Bears and neither team would lead by more than four the rest of the way.
Jenkins led 40-36 and then 42-38 on a Lee basket midway through the third. Another Carslon trey and a steal and layup from Kersh capped a 7-1 run to give Bluff back the lead at 45-43.
As expected, it went down the final possession.
Carlson finished with a game-high 25 points to lead Cherokee Bluff. She also pulled down 6 rebounds, blocked 3 shots, and had 3 steals. Kersh had 15 points and Audrey Graham had 5 points and 4 rebounds.
Lee poured in 22 points and Browner had 15 points to pace Jenkins, who was also looking for its first-ever state championship game appearance.
