COAL MOUNTAIN, Ga. — It was a defensive night for the North Forsyth girls in the first round of the Class 6A tournament.
The second-ranked Lady Raiders (29-0) forced 23 turnovers through the first three quarters, cashed in 21 points off those turnovers and held Alexander scoreless in the third quarter to march into the Sweet 16, 49-16, at Raider Arena Tuesday night.
Senior post Lindsey Pirkle scored 10 points, pulled 10 rebounds and was a force inside the paint for the Lady Raiders. London Weaver had a team-high 13 to help pace the Lady Raiders.
“Lindsey was big, I thought she did a great job in the post,” NoFo coach Brad Kudlas said. “She got stuck on the smaller guard and took advantage of that, while cleaning up some misses. She was a horse down there.”
The solid defensive effort overshadowed another poor shooting night from the 3-point line, going 1-for-16.
“The defense helped pick us up. They took care of business,” Kudlas said. “I think the whole defense, including the press, gave them a little bit of trouble. Defense is what you got to have to get where you want to get because you're gonna have off-shooting nights.”
Alexander’s defense was pretty solid early on as well, getting the Lady Raiders out of rhythm, forcing two shot clock violations, and playing tight perimeter defense.
“They had a great game plan,” Kudlas said. “They came in and played great defense, too.”
Nevertheless, the offense slowly built a double-digit lead in the first quarter, converting Alexander's turnovers into points. Gabby Gliatta’s layup off a turnover and a made foul shot to complete the 3-point play gave NoFo a 9-2 lead with 2:56 left.
After back-to-back Alexander turnovers, Emma Rose hit Pirkle with a lob pass in the post for the bucket, plus one foul shot for a 10-point lead, 12-2. Weaver added a layup with 1:38 for a 14-2 advantage with less than 2 minutes to go in the opening period.
NoFo ended the first half on a 7-3 run and extended it to a 40-3 spurt at the end of the third quarter to help seal the win.
“It was good to see the girls come out and not have a letdown after the region championship,” Kudlas said. “We've been focusing on all season, and I thought they did well with that.”
The Lady Raiders will play Sequoyah in the second round of the tournament on Friday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Raider Arena. It’s been two years since NoFo has made it out of the second round, with Sequoyah knocking them out last season, 59-46.
Kudlas is well aware of his team’s early exit in the state tournament.
“We've been talking a lot about that,” he said. “We’ll be ready for whoever we get. This is a game the girls have circled, so we’ve got to come out and play our best game of the season on Friday.”
