CALHOUN, Ga. -- The thought never entered her mind, she said. When visiting Haralson County pulled to within five points of her team with four minutes to play in Tuesday night's GHSA Class AAA first-round basketball playoff game, Jana Johns never blinked.
The Calhoun sophomore guard did react, however. Johns scored eight of her game-high 28 points in the final minutes to help the Lady Yellow Jackets pull away for a 65-52 win.
The Region 6-AAA champions will host Washington County either Friday or Saturday in the second round. Washington County upset South Atlanta on Tuesday.
"No, we were not going to lose," Johns said when asked if she was worried when the Lady Rebels cut what had been an 11-point lead to five. "We knew that this team was good and we had to work hard. We didn't box out very well tonight and that kind of messed us up a bit, but we were never worried."
Coach Jerry Pruett did enough of that. After watching his team give up 31 offensive rebounds, the veteran coach was just glad to get out with a win.
"We talked about boxing them out at halftime, but we never did a good job," Pruett said. "Give them credit, though. They never quit banging, and even the ones I thought we were going to get they would keep fighting for it and we didn't respond. We've got to realize when playoff basketball starts the calls are going to be a bit different and we've got to adapt to that."
Calhoun (24-4) did dominate in two other major areas. The Lady Jackets caused 25 turnovers and made 21 free throws to just four for the Lady Rebels, who missed 13 of 17. Johns had 13 points and Sydnie Parker recorded five steals in an up-and-down first half in which Calhoun led 34-23.
A Tamia Wade three-point play and Johns' strong drive following an Ashlyn Barnes steal gave Calhoun a 46-35 lead with 34 seconds to play in the third quarter. Haralson, however, began chipping away, scoring the final four points of the quarter and closing to within 52-47 on Alexis Boykin's drive with 4:03 left.
Over the next two minutes Johns had two steals and scored four points to push the lead back to nine, finally securing the game and letting Pruett breathe a little easier.
"Jana's come up big in the last couple of games and has taken it on her shoulders to make something happen when we need it," he said. "Everybody did a lot of great things. Sydnie Parker had a lot of big blocks and steals, so this was a team effort."
Johns had 10 rebounds and four steals to go with her 28 points, with Wade adding 11 points and 10 rebounds. Parker, despite an off shooting night, had six steals and seven blocked shots in the win.
Jada Ross was the biggest thorn in Calhoun's side with 19 points and 12 rebounds, most on the offensive end, while Boykin added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.