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Friday, February 23, 201&7
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Photos by Lily McGregor Photography
Above, North Forsyth students react during the Raiders’ 56-40 victory against Grayson on Wednesday in the second round of the Class 7A ‘state tourna
ment. Below, North senior Catherine Shope attempts a lay-up for part of her game-high-21 points.
FROM 1B ; ~
tournament, but not this time, as the Raiders pulled away in the
fourth quarter for a 56-40 victory Wednesday to reach the state
quarterfinals. :
The Raiders (26-2) will face Hillgrove, a 65-60 winner-against
Campbell, on Tuesday at home.
Grayson posed a similar challenge to North as first-round
opponent Mountain View. The Rams were athletic and taller, but
they also had more scoring options than Mountain View. Guard
Bianca Fizouaty and forward Jazmine Robinson entered averag
ing 15.7 and 14.8 points a game, respectively. The Raiders
hoped to face-guard Fizouaty and pack defenders inside against
Robinson in hopes of forcing Grayson to take jump shots.
And, lo and behold, the Rams started making those shots.
“That definitely wasn’t what we planned on having happen
ing,” Herrick said.
Still, North didn’t waver from its game plan. Bella Caracciolo
and Kate Ware hounded Fizouaty at all times, and Perryman and
others converged on Robinson when she received a pass in the
post. Fizouaty finished with just seven points before fouling out,
while Robinson led Grayson with 14 points, but she also had
five turnovers. 3
“Our game-plan was to play good defense,” Shope said. “We
have to. Every game play good defense, and then our offense
will come.” '
It did every time Grayson threatened. Down 10-5 in the first
quarter, Shope scored seven straight points, including back-to
back 3-pointers, to reclaim the lead. Down 22-15 in the second
quarter, North went on a 10-1 run, finished by a 3-pointer from
Amber Jones at the buzzer to take a 25-23 lead at halftime. -
When Grayson cut North’s 36-26 lead down to five by the
opening seconds of the fourth quarter, Cassie Markle, largely
missing from the Raiders’ offensive picture in the first half,
came alive. The senior forward drew a foul on a tough driving
layup and made one free throw, then crossed over Robinson at
the top of the key on North’s next possession for a clear layup.
With each compelling play, the response from North’s crowd
built into the crescendo that erupted after the final buzzer sound
ed. Players from both teams shook hands, and then North stu
dents poured on the court, surrounding the Raiders in celebra
tion.
“The crowd has been so good these past two games,” said
North guard Caroline Martin, who finished with 16 points. “It
makes it so much better. They hype you up so much.”
FROM 1B
The combination of forward Yamani
Paul and Devyn Wilson scored 41 of the
Blue Devil’s 74 points, with 23 of those
coming in the first 16 minutes of the
game. Norcross interim coach Dani
Wright knew South’s ability to switch
defenses quickly would cause some hic
cups, but the Blue Devils stuck to their
game plan of getting the ball down low.
“They really changed it up a lot on
our girls, but at the end of the day, we
just kept saying, ‘Hey, work it inside,
FROM 1B
Adversity
week with a broken wrist, which is
never what you want.”
The Longhorns, who began the season
last week with a 20-4 road win at
Forsyth Central, responded to their first
semblance of adversity since losing last
year’s state semifinals by one goal by
scoring 13 unanswered goals and win
ning their second game of the season
get an isolation with Yamani,” and our
said.
South (18-11) would hang tough in
the first quarter, inching within two
points on a Zoe Maisel bucket late in the
first quarter. But three turnovers on four
possessions extended the Lady Blue
Devil lead to 10 points just before the
first horn.
Norcross would take advantage of 28
South turnovers, leading to 24 points,
including 16 points in the first half.
“If we take away just half of those,
and not that we’re going to convert on
all of them, it’s a much closer game,”
Gravitt said. “That’s been our Achilles’
20-2.
“Last week, I think we started off a
little slow,” Church said. “I really want
ed to defend our home turf, and I told
them to come out firing on all cylin
ders.”
Lambert (2-0, 2-0 Area 5-6/7A) did
just that, finishing the first half with a
16-2 lead, thanks in large part to senior
Shelby Rumer, who finished the night
winning a gnme-leflm&aws.. ;
“We put the keys to the game on draw
control again and (Rumer) did unreal,”
Church said. “I think she won at least 85
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Heel in a lot of games when the other
The Blue Devils’ lead increased to 26
late in the third quarter after a high-per
centage shot from Paul. The War Eagles
would get some offense going in the
fourth quarter as two straight baskets by
Sophie Rosin, along with free throws,
and a three-point basket by Ashley
Breindl helped bring the War Eagles
within 64-49 with 3:57 left in the game.
But whenever Norcross needed a stop,
Paul was there with another quick buck
et to curb South’s momentun late. :
Gravitt still credits his team’s effort
for not backing down despite the large
deficit. _
percent of the draws tonight.”
In addition to controlling the ball for
the majority of the night for the second
consecutive week, Lambert out-shot
their opponent by a wide margin, recov
ered more ground balls and rarely
allowed their opponent to cross mid
field. ;
- Offensively, the Longhoms showed
both patience and excellent stick work,
moving the ball around the horn at will
“We wanted to be deliberate on
offense,” Church said. “We wanted to
“That’s been their identity for the past
three weeks” Gravitt said_“They have
battled and battled and I couldn’t be
prouder.”
Maisel scored 12 of her team-high 18
points in the second half in her final
game as a War Eagle. Breindl chipped
in with 13 points. Ryane Williams had
seven points.
“We’re sad to lose this group of
seniors,” Gravitt said. “They’ve been a
part of a lot of wins in their four years in
the program. They’ve put in a lot of
work and they’ve helped lay the ground
work to have this program succeed in
the years to come.” *
work the ball around and pick and
choose the opportunities that we wanted
to take advantage of. We have our offen
sive sets that we want to run, and we
want to execute those to a high percent
age” .
‘qg:?ite their 2-0 start, Church and his
s focus remain squarely on one
game atatime. -
- “The first two games, being area
games, were must-wins for us, and I
could not have been prouder of the way
they came out and took care of busi
ness,” Church said.
3B