While the majority of the favorites, as usual, won opening-round basketball games as the GHSA girls’ postseason began Tuesday, Northwest Whitfield bucked the trend.
The Lady Bruins, the No. 18 playoff seed in Class AAA, won in Albany against No. 15 Westover, 54-48, setting up a fourth meeting against Region 7 rival Heritage Friday. The Lady Generals had little trouble with Dougherty in a 70-24 win Tuesday at home.
Northwest (17-11) fell behind 15-10 after one quarter as Westover’s prolific guard, Sydney Donaldson, hit a pair of long 3-pointers, but coach Ryan Scoggins’ team started feeding senior post Miah Triana (game-high 27 points) and shadowed Donaldson defensively in the second quarter to take a 29-25 lead into intermission.
Triana scored six in an 8-2 run to open the third as the lead grew to 10, but Donaldson and sister Savannah Donaldson combined to score each of Westover’s points in a 14-7 run to cut the Northwest lead to 44-43 with 4:25 to play.
Megan Torbett drove for two to stem the rally and Triana followed with a pair of layups of her own, the second on a pass from Torbett following a steal by Lindsey Harris. Northwest, though, had three consecutive turnovers, allowing the Lady Patriots to get within two on a Sydney Donaldson free throw with 57 seconds remaining.
Westover would not score again, however, and Triana sealed the win with four free throws.
“I think that our girls did a great job defending tonight and following our plan,” Scoggins said. “Their number 1 (Sydney Donaldson) was an amazing player, but we did just enough to keep her close tonight and mess with their rhythm. We made some hustle plays down the stretch that proved to be the difference. I’m also so proud of how Miah finished around the rim tonight.”
Scoggins and his team now turn their attention to Region 7 champion Heritage, which has beaten Northwest three times this season.
(READ MORE: Heritage tops Ridgeland to win 7-AAA championship).
“Heritage has an excellent team,” Scoggins said. “They are very well coached and have girls who really play the game the right way. I think a key will be for our girls to just play each possession with great energy and effort. We are going to have to limit the amount of extra possessions that Heritage gets. They are really good on the boards, so we have to match them there.”
Heritage (24-4) raced out to a 42-9 halftime lead and never looked back against Dougherty. Paisley Collins had 13 of her team-high 17 points and Ema Tanner 13 of her 15 points in the opening half. Georgia Gracy added 10 points as 11 Lady Generals got in the scoring column.
Also in Class AAA, Cherokee Bluff (18-10) eliminated LaFayette (17-12), 57-41.
The Ridgeland girls’ playoff opener in Class AAA was moved to Wednesday night when original opponent Long County was moved from the 24th-overall seed to 23rd, forcing a new opponent for the nine-seeded Lady Panthers. Ridgeland (23-4) will now host Hephzibah (16-9) at 6.
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Class AAAA
› Dalton 72, Maynard Jackson 38: Hot-shooting Aubriyana Camp, who had 47 points in last week’s Region 7 championship win over Cartersville, had a game-high 26 points as the 25-3 Lady Catamounts led from the start. Emery Silvers added 17 points and Georgia Sanders had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Dalton will host Wayne County Friday at 6.
Class AA
› Sonoraville 69, Ringgold 65: The Lady Phoenix (20-7) withstood a 42-point barrage from Ringgold junior guard Jersey-Rae Loy to win the battle of Region 7 rivals.
Ellison Harper led Sonoraville with 16 points, including 11 of the team’s 14 in the opening quarter. The Lady Tigers (16-13) lead 48-46 entering the final period when Keegan Angel scored all of her seven points, Lilli Lovingood five of her seven points and Lakelyn Hall four of her 14 to help Sonoraville pull out the win.
Loy hit nine 3-pointers, seven of them coming in the first half, while Keeley Mountjoy scored 11 and Paityn Weldon all nine of her points in the third quarter when Ringgold outscored Sonoraville 17-12 to take the lead.
“It was a great game tonight,” Sonoraville coach Stephanie Caudell said. “It was back and forth with a lot of lead changes. Jersey-Rae Loy was unbelievable. We didn’t have an answer for her, but we played really well in the fourth and did enough to hold on for the win.”
Sonoraville will travel to top-seeded Josey in Friday’s Sweet 16 round.
› Murray County 82, Pierce County 19: The second-seeded Lady Indians (23-4) had 27 steals and made 34 of 61 shots in the first-round rout in Chatsworth.
Blaklee Ledford had a game-high 29 points and six steals, while Callan Ledford had 12 points, five rebounds, nine assists and eight steals. Hadley Dotson hit six of nine shots in scoring 16 points while adding five assists and six steals, with Finley Dotson finishing with 11 points.
Murray will host Laney in the Sweet 16.
› Hart County 60, North Murray 39
Class A Division I
› Lamar County 58, Gordon Lee 44: Gordon Lee’s season ended at 12-15 despite 14 points from Riley Mull and 12 from Kyleigh Custer.
› East Laurens 65, Dade County 38
Class A Division II
› Wilcox County 67, Trion 28
Private
› Christian Heritage 69, Aquinas 15: Annaka Hembree scored 19 points, while Carley Bramlett added 15 and Olivia Perry 10 as the Lady Lions (19-7) cruised into the second round after building a 39-6 halftime lead on the visitors. Fifth-seeded Christian Heritage will host Kings Ridge in the Sweet 16.
Class A Division I boys
› Rabun County 80, Chattooga 47
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.