Mt. Airy, Ga. — North Forsyth smothered Habersham Central in the second half en route to a 56-30 blowout win to capture the girls basketball Region 8-6A championship.
It was North Forsyth’s sixth straight region title across two different classifications. It was head coach Brad Kudlas' fourth straight as a head coach and sixth overall.
"It never gets old," Kudlas said about winning the region title. "It just feels so good. The way the girls came out and played, and that's the thing; it doesn't feel old to them either. These seniors are going out with four region championships in a row. Yes, there's more to be done, but from a region standpoint, what more do you want."
After a sluggish first half that ended with North Forsyth up 24-16, the NoFo Lady Raiders turned up the pressure in the second half.
"We had to grind out everything in that first half," Kudlas said. "The biggest thing was winning each quarter, and we did that in the first half. We had a lot of turnovers in the second quarter, but we knew we were going to clean up those in the season half."
Well ...
North Forsyth held Habersham Central scoreless for the first four minutes of the third quarter, fueling an 11-0 run and a 35-16 advantage. Meredith Franklin and London Weaver swished a 3-point a piece, Lindsey Pirkle converted a 3-point play, and Erin Whalen nailed two free throws.
"That's what we were preaching at halftime ... play defense, defense, defense," he said. "They had a couple of miscues, and we were able to convert. Lindsey had a big three-point play, and we hit a couple of 3s. But our defense really drove a lot of that. We kind of wore them down a little bit in the second half."
Kyia Barrett, who led the Hab. Lady Raiders, with 15 points, ended the run, and the Habersham Central drought, with 4:50 to go in the quarter on a 3-pointer to cut the lead 35-19. But Hab turned the ball over the next two trips down the floor, stalemating any potential momentum.
Habersham Central had six turnovers in the last 3 minutes of the third quarter. Meanwhile, North Forsyth tacked on five more points, converting one of Hab’s turnovers into points, a 3-pointer from Gabby Gliatta with 1:50 left in the quarter.
In the fourth, North Forsyth extended its lead 49-26 on a bucket from Whalen with 3:31 to go for the largest lead of the game. Whalen led the NoFo Lady Raiders with 15 points, while Weaver chipped in 10 points.
North Forsyth will play the loser of the Lassister/Pope game out of Region 7-6A on Tuesday. Habersham Central will play the winner of the Lassister/Pope game.
In the region consolation games, the Gainesville girls fell to Shiloh 59-57 and will be a No. 4 seed in next week's Class 6A state tournament. Mattie White led the Lady Red Elephants with 14 points, and Kedria Young added 10. Gainesville will play Region 7-6A champion Sprayberry.
Meanwhile, the Habersham Central boys pulled away from North Forsyth in the second half to seal the No. 3 seed in next week's state tournament. Bryce Pittman and Brighton Gaines combined for 42 points to lead the Hab. Raiders' 67-54 win. Gaines led Hab with 22 points, and Pittman added 20.
Brogen Casey and Kal-El Delgadillo had 7 each to lead North Forsyth.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/2/1169119/region-8-6a-tournament-north-forsyth-claims-title-with-big-win-over-hab-central