MACON -- Even Buford girls coach Gene Durden shrugged his shoulders when asked for an explanation.
"All I know is that this group just plays hard and finds a way," he said. "It was ugly and I don't know how they did it really."
It was the epitome of ugly -- but you won't catch anyone in gold and green complaining after the Lady Wolves, despite shooting just 31 percent and committing 16 turnovers, manufactured a late run to nip Carrollton 35-34 Thursday night to capture the Class AAAA title at the Macon Coliseum.
Senior and North Carolina State-signee Camille Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 2:36 left in the game and then added an assist on a Zikaya Wright basket moments late to erase a 31-30 Carrollton lead for a 35-31 advantage with 2:06 remaining.
It proved to be just enough.
The Lady Trojans hit three free throws over the final 1:47 of the game to pull back within 35-34 and watched as first Chandler Hall and then Anderson missed the front-end of two one-and-one attempts for Buford in a 15-second span. Carrollton got a chance to win the game with the final possession but freshman Erial Daniel missed an easy shot inside and then was fouled on her own stickback attempt with :00.6 seconds left.
But Daniel and the large Carrollton contingent watched as both free throws bounced off the rim and a then a frantic tip attempt by the Lady Trojans went out of bounds at the buzzer as the Lady Wolves survived. Somehow.
"With this group it has been the most incredible season I have ever had," Durden said. "This game fit our season perfectly. It was ugly, it was a grind, but somehow they found a way to win. I'm just proud of the whole group."
Carrollton coach Shon Thomaston, a long-time friend of Durden's, said it just wasn't meant to be for his young squad.
"It was just the bounce of the ball at the key time and it didn't go our way," Thomaston said. "Erial is going to be fine. I just told her afterwards that we would not have been here without her.
"But we knew it was going to be that kind of game. Both teams play great defense and we know each other so well. I think my girls learned a lot from the experience and hopefully we can use that for next year."
Anderson's shot to give Buford the lead was the largest of the game for the Lady Wolves and just their second lead since early in the first quarter. Anderson, who hobbled through most of the game after suffering a minor knee injury in last week's semifinals, said she didn't think about the first five 3-pointers she missed, or the pain.
"No pain, no gain," said Anderson, who finished with just six points on just 2-of-12 shooting. "I was hurting but I wasn't going to let that affect me. I just knew we needed something positive.
"I'm a shooter and coach always tells his shooters to keep shooting even if they aren't falling so I just kept shooting. I thought, 'it's about time,' when it went in."
The Lady Wolves, who finished the season at 30-3, may not have been in any position for a rally if not for the play of Wright or sophomore Pamela Johnson. Wright had seven points and eight rebounds and Johnson had six points, including a pair of big driving layups late in the first half to help Buford close out the second quarter with an 8-3 run to pull within 21-20 at halftime.
"Pamela was a game-changer for us out there," Durden said. "Without her, or Zikaya, I don't know that we're in a position to win that game. (Pamela) did a lot of little things that kept us in the game."
In the third quarter, Buford took a pair of brief one-point leads at 22-21 and 28-27 but Carrollton quickly erased both, with Daniel getting two easy baskets inside in the final three minutes for a 31-28 lead heading into the final period.
Neither team scored in the fourth quarter until Johnson hit a pair of free throws for Buford to pull within 31-30 with 2:55 left setting the stage for Anderson's big 3-pointer 19 seconds later.
Nerves may have played a part for Buford early. Other than Anderson and Corey Staples, who finished with a team-high eight points, most of the Lady Wolves were little-used backups in last year's Class AAA-title-game loss to St. Pius.
For Carrollton, which hadn't been this far in the playoffs since winning the Class AAA title in 2009, Thomaston said he got as good a start from his group as he could have imagined.
The first quarter was very uncharacteristic of the Lady Wolves. They missed their first three shots of the game and had four turnovers in the first four minutes but managed to trail just 6-5 after a Katy Bisges basket. They also missed their final six shots of the quarter.
The Lady Trojans' Emily Waters dominated early scoring their first 10 points and added two blocks and Carrollton would force Buford into eight turnovers by the end of the quarter while closing out the period with a 7-2 run for a 15-7 lead, the largest deficit for the Lady Wolves in the 2015 playoffs.
"I thought the first quarter we played with confidence and were able to get some good looks for Emily," Thomaston said. "The only nerves we may have had was at the end, but that's to be expected when the game is on the line and you haven't been in that position before."
But while the Buford offense struggled, the defense found its groove in the second quarter. The Lady Wolves forced two quick turnovers and Lane Crawford drained the only 3-pointer of the half for Buford to close the gap to 15-12. Johnson added her two fastbreak baskets off Carrollton missed shots within a minute to cut the lead to 20-18 and Staples tied the game at 20 with a layup with 13 seconds left.
Carrollton added a free throw with 8 seconds left, Anderson picking up her third foul, as the Lady Trojans took a 21-20 halftime lead.
Neither team got much going offensively in the first half, with Buford hitting just 9-of-27 shots and Carrollton going just 8-of-27 from the field. It didn't get much better for either offense in the second half.
Carrollton finished the game 9-of-19 from the free throw line and shot just 27 percent from the field. After her early barrage, Waters was held scoreless after Staples shadowed her from the second quarter on. Buford also outrebounded the taller Lady Trojans 42-29 for the game, with Bisges leading the way with nine.
"We missed a lot shots in the game and the missed free throws as a team probably were the biggest factor," Thomaston said. "You can't put it on any one person or play. We had many, many chances to increase our lead and didn't get it done. They did a good job of taking Emily out of the game in the second half."
Durden said he was most impressed by the heart his team showed when the game was on the line.
"Camille just has the heart of a champion and made two huge plays that turned the game around," he said. "I don't know how we won it but somehow we did. I think that says a lot about their character."
Friday
April 19th, 2024
2:42AM
