Whitwell ultimately imposed its will in Friday’s girls’ quarterfinal at Grace Academy in the Region 3-A high school basketball tournament and pulled away for a 42-29 victory over the Lady Golden Eagles.
Whitwell (24-8) will take on Van Buren County in a semifinal Monday at Sale Creek. Grace ends its season 10-15.
Grace’s only lead Friday was 7-5, but it had things operating at a desired slower tempo throughout most of the first half. The Lady Tigers took the lead for good when Alyssa Coppinger’s pull-up jumper in the lane at 4:16 of the second quarter broke a tie at 11 and started a run of nine consecutive points to close the half.
Whitwell coach Eric Zensen said his team relies heavily on its press, which showed some early deficiencies. That, along with inefficient shooting and Grace’s effort, led to the slow start.
“We needed to be jumping their ball-handlers to get the game to speed up a little bit,” Zensen said. “We made an adjustment at the end of the first quarter, and the girls started picking that up. We were able to speed them up at that point.”