He did in Avondale and the two teams will meet Friday night in the second round of the Class AAA tournament at Mt. Zion High School in Jonesboro.
Wood has 11 freshmen or sophomores on his 13-player roster but starts two seniors - Amanda Towe and Sarah Lane - who are making their third straight trip to the playoffs.
Avondale starts or has five freshmen who see most of the playing time.
Despite the Lady Knights' youth, they are on a run of playoff appearances not seen in almost 30 years at the school. The last time the Lady Knights went three straight years was 1973-75.
"That's a nice accomplishment but we'd like to start winning some games in the tournament," Wood said.
Johnson has not been past the first round since making the Elite Eight fields in 1992 and 1996.
Wood said it should be an exciting matchup of teams that should be mainstays in the state tournament for years to come.
"We're very similar in the youth that both teams play and hopefully both of us will gain more experience by being here," Wood said.
But Wood also said his team's youth is one of its biggest weaknesses at times. Like Saturday, when they blew a big lead to Cartersville then had on hang on at the end for the win.
Sophomore Whitney Randolph converted a three-point play to give the Lady Knights a lead they wouldn't relinquish and then she stole a Cartersville pass with 2 seconds left to seal the game.
"We showed our youth in that game. We got up and then relaxed and made a lot of silly mistakes that you can't do when you face the really good teams," said Wood, who challenged his team several times during the game.
"I get frustrated because I know how good they are and how much better than can be. But I also know that they're still growing as players and winning in the playoffs requires experience. That's what we're trying to get."
The Lady Knights (21-8) are right where they were a year ago. They beat Cartersville in the first round last year and then fell to Elbert County. Wood is hoping for a different scenario this year.
"Pulling that game out against Cartersville was big because the girls learned how to handle adversity and win when things were going against them. Now we need to learn how to carry that over," he said.
"We're in the big show now and I think we found out we have some competitors on this team that want to win. And (Tuesday) we had the best practice since the Lanierland Tournament."
In that tournament the Lady Knights beat No. 1 Gainesville, the last team to do so this season.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/2/163176