RINGGOLD, Ga. – High school coaches often get the feeling their speeches – no matter how often they are recited – fall on deaf ears.
That’s not the case, apparently, with the Heritage girls’ basketball team, which used a strong start to the second half Friday to defeat Region 6-AAAA rival Northwest Whitfield 65-51.
Heritage (20-2) and Northwest (16-4) are tied atop the 6-AAAA standings at 9-1 with two region games remaining. If each team wins out, there will be a coin flip to determine the top seed for the region tournament.
“Coach always talks about the third quarter, specifically the first three minutes of the third quarter, and how important it is,” Heritage senior point guard Tori Harvey said. “Hitting our shots early in the second half built up our confidence and we took it from there.”
Most of those shots belonged to super sophomore Emily Wiley, who scored the Lady Generals’ first seven points of the period and ended it with 11 on her way to a game-high 23. Her short runner was followed by a 3-pointer in the quarter’s first minute, expanding a three-point halftime lead to eight and causing Northwest coach Greg Brown to call a quick timeout.