Northwest Whitfield runs out of gas in 4A girls' playoffs

Northwest Whitfield's Jada Griffin (42) and a teammate console each other after the Lady Bruins' season ended with Wednesday's 59-46 loss to Madison County in the GHSA Class AAAA playoffs.
Northwest Whitfield's Jada Griffin (42) and a teammate console each other after the Lady Bruins' season ended with Wednesday's 59-46 loss to Madison County in the GHSA Class AAAA playoffs.

TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - Basketball is notoriously a game of runs, and it's often how a team responds to another's surge that determines the outcome.

For the Northwest Whitfield Lady Bruins, Wednesday night's 59-46 loss to Madison County in the second round of the GHSA Class AAAA state tournament was a case of one run just being too much. The visitors, who trailed 9-0 after the first 3 1/2 minutes, used a blistering 35-10 streak over the remainder of the first half to take a 16-point lead into halftime.

Though the Lady Bruins (25-4) got within a point of the lead in the fourth quarter, the energy used to rally ran out as the Lady Red Raiders (22-6) pulled away late to earn a berth in the quarterfinals.

"The most frustrating thing is we executed our game plan so well in the first quarter, but they made a run and we never settled back down," Northwest coach Greg Brown said. "I think we just ran out of gas because we had to put forth so much energy in the second half. That was the difference."

Madison County, which was upset in the Region 8 championship game after an undefeated run through the league's regular season, used the settling play of guard Kayla McPherson to turn the tide in the second quarter. She scored 15 of her 18 points in the killing run, with most of them coming on transition opportunities.

"The second quarter was just pushing our tempo on them, getting some turnovers and them missing some shots," Madison County coach Dan Lampe said. "We were able to push the ball to the other end and get some easy points. If we have to rely on halfcourt offense we are not so good."

In the third quarter, the hot hand of Hallie Brooker put Northwest right back in it. She scored eight consecutive points to start the period, and senior Rylee Maret hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Lady Bruins made it a six-point game going into the final quarter.

The run continued as Brooker started the period with a three-point play and Nicole Bates followed with a layup after a Tionna Baker steal to cut Northwest's deficit to one. The Lady Bruins had a pair of possessions while down a point, but 6-foot-1 Madison County post Jordan Bayley blocked three consecutive shots and scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the final four minutes to seal the win.

Jada Griffin led Northwest with 14 points and added seven rounds and four steals, while Brooker had 13 points.

Madison County's Bayley finished with seven rebounds and five blocked shots.

» In other girls' games involving northwest Georgia teams, Coahulla Creek's breakthrough season ended with a 68-28 loss at Greater Atlanta Christian in Class AAA, while in Class A public, Gordon Lee fell at No. 3 seed Marion County, 63-45.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.

Upcoming Events