DAHLONEGA, Ga. — It was March 5, 2021. The site was the Lynn Cottrell Court. The gym was packed for the Class 3A semifinal battle between Cross Creek and Lumpkin County.
As the game progressed, it was a back-and-forth affair, but one poorly executed full-court press haunted the Lumpkin County girls for 365 days.
Cross Creek turned the Lady Indians press upside down with a wide-open layup as time expired to eliminate them in the semifinals in 2021.
If anything good could come out of such a heartbreaking loss, it was the fuel that fired what happened this season.
After rolling through the regular season with just one loss (30-1), the Lady Indians began the quest to erase the horrible vision from the semifinal loss last season. But there were a couple of familiar foes in the way; one was a potentially welcomed rematch with Cross Creek.
Both squads took care of business in the first two rounds, making the meeting reality in the quarterfinals. The Georgia High School Association coin toss for when like seeds meet in the bracket didn't fall the Lady Indians' way. It meant a long road trip to Augusta was imminent.
The ride home was much sweeter for Lumpkin County as they not only won the game to avenge last season's terrible loss but also rallied back to do so in a 49-39 victory. Redemption was had, but the road was still two stops away from the main objective.
Westminister, who felt they should have beaten the Lady Indians last season in the tournament, wanted to prove a point. Lumpkin County wasn't having any of it, cruising to a 64-42 win and into the state championship game against Greater Atlanta School.
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