BUFORD, Ga. — Defense. Defense. Defense.
It’s what drives the Buford girls, and on Wednesday, they put on a clinic in their 62-46 win over Central Gwinnett in the Region 8-7A championship game at The Buford Arena.
The Lady Wolves (24-3) forced 32 Central Gwinnett turnovers, turning them into 27 points and set up two decisive runs, one in each half. Buford coach Gene Durden said that methodology is what they will need as they try and maneuver through the state’s largest classification in the playoffs beginning next week.
“That’s always been our trademark here at Buford, playing defense,” Durden said. “We’re doing a few different things this year, mixing it up a little, and the girls have done a great job of buying into what we want to do. We are going to have to make that our priority moving forward. We played with a better sense of urgency at the start.”
However, early on, the Lady Black Knights (21-6) used their quickness to beat Buford’s press for an 8-0 run to take an 11-8 lead, their biggest of the game. It was all Buford the rest of the way.
The Lady Wolves exploded for a 19-0 run, forcing 7 Central Gwinnett turnovers for a 27-11 lead late in the second quarter. Ava Grace Watson and Taylor Romano sparked the offense with a pair of 3-pointers each.
Buford would force 19 first-half turnovers, turning them into 14 points as they took a 34-19 lead into the break.
It was more of the same in the third quarter as Buford forced 9 more Central miscues, mainly from its press, and converted those into another 11 points to push the lead to 53-29.
Durden, who said his group has had trouble coming out of the half at times during the season, said they will need Wednesday's effort in the playoffs.
“We’ve had a tendency to come out a little nonchalant in the third quarter, and we can’t do that in the playoffs if we want to move forward,” Durden said.
Romano would hit another 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter for a 56-31 lead, the largest of the night for the Lady Wolves. Central made it closer, closing out the game with a 15-6 run against the Buford reserves.
Romano finished with 19 points to pace Buford. Watson had 18, and freshman Lydia Ledford had 14, including the game’s first 5 points.
Central was led by CiCi Diressero with 21 points. Joy Harris had 11 for the Lady Black Knights.
