MT. AIRY, Ga. — If the North Forsyth girls played Shiloh 10 times, the result would be the same.
In the previous two meetings during the regular season, the Lady Raiders won by an average of 43 points. Thursday was déjà vu for the Lady Generals.
North Forsyth (20-6 Region 8-6A No. 1 seed) held Shiloh (9-17 Region 8-6A No. 5 seed) to just 11 first-half points to pace a 66-28 win on Thursday at Habersham Central to advance to the Region 8-6A finals.
But it wasn't all bad for Shiloh, who held the No. 8 Lady Raiders scoreless for 4:30 minutes of the first quarter and ended only trailing by five points, 7-2.
North Forsyth struggled early in the first quarter after Erin Whalen scored the opening bucket with 7:30 on the first-quarter clock.
"Yeah, I don't know. I guess the long bus ride up here," North Forsyth coach Brad Kudlas said about the slow first start. "But we got it going in the second and third quarters."
Shiloh opened the second quarter with a Roberts' basket. After that, it was all North Forsyth as Kamryn Gardner, Lindsey Pirkle, London Weaver, and Addison Peck set the Raiders on a 16-5 run to take control 20-7.
Gardner led the Lady Raiders with 11 points, Peck finished with 10, and Pirkle chipped in 9.
"We started playing defense and pushing the ball, got a couple of deflections, and hit some free throws," Kudlas said. "Once we got going, the girls shared the ball well, woke up, and got going."
The Lady Raiders pushed ahead in the third quarter, 47-19, behind their outside shooting. Josie Cheatham and Gardner hit two 3-pointers each to lead the third-quarter charge.
NoFo outscored Shiloh 19-8 in the final period.
Jeea Jackson led the Lady Generals with 12 points.
North Forsyth will play Habersham Central for the Region 8-6A championship on Friday at Habersham Central. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
HABERSHAM CENTRAL 49
GAINESVILLE 32
Habersham Central coach Bill Bradley knew if his Lady Raiders slowed Gainesville's transition game down and controlled the boards, they would be in good shape in the fourth quarter.
Well, they mostly did that. Gainesville (21-4 Region 8-6A No. 3 seed) won the boards in the first half, but when the final horn sounded, the Lady Raiders (18-7 Region 8-6A No. 2 seed) finished one rebound ahead of Big Red.
Oh, and they severely limited Gainesville's transition game en route to a berth in the Region 8-6A championship game.
Habersham Central's defensive game plan had Gainesville searching for offense.
"It was a physical game the entire night, and we knew it would be," Bradley said. "We held our composure. Defensively, we just did a really nice job. It gets frustrating when you're searching for easy open shots; we just tend not to give those up. I thought we did a super job with it. We gave up some offensive rebounds early in the game and the third quarter, but then we started controlling the glass."
Hab's defense frustrated Gainesville all night, and the physical play only helped the Lady Raiders, as Kedria Young and Zaria Williams were in foul trouble in the first half.
Gainesville's offensive woes started early, going scoreless for the first 4:30 minutes of the game while hauling in seven first-half offensive boards that resulted in just one bucket.
Nevertheless, it wasn't pretty offensively on both ends of the floor in the first half.
The Lady Raiders only led 10-3 at the end of the first quarter and 21-15 at halftime.
Gainesville's most successful run was in the first two minutes of the second quarter when they outpaced Hab 8-3 to cut the lead to three points, 13-10. Mattie White scored four of the eight points, while Young and Zaria Williams combined for three free throws. It was the closest Gainesville would get.
Jaxy Bantum and McKenzie Chitwood helped push the lead to 18-10 with 53 seconds left in the half. Chitwood's corner 3-pointer gave the Lady Raiders a 21-12 advantage with 43 seconds remaining.
Gainesville finished the half on a high-note as White nailed a bucket and Julia Payne swished a 3-pointer to inch the Lady Red Elephants within six points, 21-15, at halftime.
Habersham Central held Gainesville scoreless for the final three minutes of the third quarter while outscoring Big Red 14-6. Hab also finished the third frame on a 6-0 spurt thanks to baskets from Chitwood and Gabby Santiago to grab its biggest lead, 35-22.
Emyrie Combs led Habersham with 13 points, while McKenzie Chitwood had 12.
Gainesville's offensive woes continued in the fourth quarter, scoring just six points in 6:30 minutes.
Keidra Young and Zaria Williams had 9 points each to lead Gainesville.
With the win, the Lady Raiders will play North Forsyth on Friday for the title at home. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Habersham Central is the only team in the region to get a win against North Forsyth, ironically, at home in January, 55-45. But North Forsyth routed Habersham in Coal Mountain, 71-29.
"I'm excited. We think we'll be a little bit better than we were last time. They played really, really well, and I'm going to take anything away from them, but we gave up a bunch of transition buckets. They played the 1-3-1 [defense], and both of my guards made some turnovers, and they were all flat-footed. Our game plan will be the same, but I think we'll execute it a little bit better."
LANIER BOYS 64
HABERSHAM CENTRAL 53
After scoring 21 points in the first quarter and taking a 21-17 lead on No. 3 ranked Lanier, Habersham Central (15-10 Region 8-6A No. 5 seed) only mustered six points in the second quarter to fall behind for good in Region 8-6A semifinals on Thursday at home.
Brannon Gaines, Cole Gary and Enzo Combs combined for 13 of the 21 points in the opening quarter, but the Longhorns' Osmar Garcia, who scored 18 points, rallied his team back, scoring nine of those 18 in the first quarter.
Gaines finished with 12 points, and Bryce Pittman and Josiah McCurry had 9 points each.
Jayce Nathaniel gave the Longhorns (22-4 Region 8-6A No. 1 seed) their first lead, 24-22, with 5:30 left in the first half. It was part of a 15-6 run in the quarter.
In the second half, the Raiders cut the lead to five points, 35-30 on a Gary basket with 6:30 left, and stayed within single digits for most of the second half.
Lanier will play Shiloh for the region championship, while Habersham Central will take on North Forsyth on Friday at home. Game time is 5:30 p.m.
SHILOH BOYS 59
NORTH FORSTYH 46
Will Sokol's 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the first quarter was the last time North Forsyth led, 10-7, in the loss to Shiloh on Thursday in the Region 8-6A semifinals.
Shiloh (15-13 Region 8-6A No. 3 seed) outscored North Forsyth 13-3 in the final 2 minutes of the opening period to grab a 20-13 lead, and led by 10 points by halftime.
In the second half, Shiloh went up 39-24 off a Mustapha Diane basket with 4:25 left in the third quarter to take total control of the game.
Emmanuel Okogie led the Generals with 16 points, and Atanga had 11.
Will Sokol scored 15 points, 12 from the 3-point line, to lead the Raiders. Ka-el Delgadillo had 10.
Shiloh will play Lanier in the region title game at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, while the Raiders (15-12 Region 8-6A No. 2 seed) will battle Habersham Central in the consolation game at 5:30 p.m.
