BOGART, Ga. — As she stepped to the free throw line, Chestatee junior Payton Cable just envisioned an empty gym. However, the North Oconee gym was anything but as a large home crowd rained down noise as she was looking to put the final nail on the Lady War Eagles second consecutive Region 8-4A title.
Cable hit nothing but net on both shots to seal a thrilling 69-65 win over North Oconee on Friday in the region finals. The Lady War Eagles will take a No. 1 seed into next week’s Class 4A state tournament.
“I was thinking just pretend nobody’s here and cut out the crowd and focus on putting (the ball) in the basket,” Cable said. “We shoot free throws every day so I just wanted to do it for the team.”
Cable put the finishing touches on what turned into a nail-biter after Chestatee let a 19-point lead with 7:03 left dwindle down to just two points with 6.1 seconds left. She also ignited the Lady War Eagles first and last lead in the first quarter, hitting a 3-pointer to give them an 8-6 lead they would never relinquish.
“I just tried to do whatever I could for the team. We had a pretty good lead but we knew they would make a run,” Cable said. “But it feels good to go back-to-back.”
Coach Sutton Shirely, who was named Coach of the Year in 8-4A, said he expected the kind of game that it turned into.
“North Oconee is a very good team. They’re well-coached, have good, athletic players and we knew it was going to be tough,” he said. “We may have gotten a little lazy in the fourth quarter but fortunately we built a big enough lead that we could afford a few mistakes.
“To do this (back-to-back titles) two straight years in an 11-team region is a testament to the program we have here. The girls deserve all the credit. They work hard every day.”
Once Cable gave them the lead in the first quarter, Chestatee (23-5) slowly extended their lead until Caroline Bull’s layup gave them a 56-37 lead moments into the fourth quarter.
Chestatee had played near-flawless with just four turnovers through the first three quarters. In the fourth, North Oconee (19-9) went to full-court press and used that to nearly pull off the upset.
The Lady Titans forced 9 Chestatee turnovers in the final period, with seven contributing to a 21-6 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Rin Drudge to cut the lead to 62-58 with 1:57 left.
A Riley Black basket and then two Black free throws pushed Chestatee’s lead back to 66-60 but another 3-pointer from Drudge and a basket from Kendall Wells got North Oconee to 67-65 with 6.1 seconds left.
But Cable’s free throw made a last-ditch shot by the Lady Titans moot as Chestatee held on.
“Back-to-back is what we worked for all season so this really feels great,” Cable said. “We’ve been working on this for 11 months. Now we just have to move on from here. We’re not done yet.”
The Lady Titans opened hot, getting a 3-pointer from Aiyanna Peavy and a three-point play from Wells for a quick 6-0 lead just over two minutes in.
But the Lady War Eagles, after missing their first three shots of the game, finally found their range. Jamya Weaver scored inside, Caroline Bull hit a free throw, and then Cable scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer to give them their first lead.
Chestatee continued the barrage with Black hitting three free throws to cap an 11-0 run. North Oconee later trimmed the lead to 13-11 on Peavy’s second 3-pointer but the Lady War Eagles answered with 3-pointers from Addison Boyd and Black, who banked in a trey at the buzzer to push the lead to 19-11.
The lead ballooned to 27-15 midway through the second quarter on two more treys from Boyd and a basket by Black. The Lady Titans responded with an 8-2 run to get to 29-23 but Chestatee eventually took a 37-28 lead into the break.
Black, who was named the Region Player of the year, finished with a game-high 27 points, including hitting 12-of-14 from the free throw line, and pulled down 10 rebounds for her second straight double-double in the tournament.
Cable and Boyd each finished with 13 points as every player that logged minutes scored for Chestatee.
Wells finished with 20 points, 8 in the fourth quarter, to pace North Oconee. Drudge finished with 12, all on 3-pointers and all in the fourth quarter rally. Peavy and Reese Riddle also both had 12 points for the Lady Titans.
