TUNNEL HILL, Ga. — Is it possible for a basketball team to be both confident and humble at the same time?
Northwest Whitfield girls’ coach Margaret Stockburger describes her team as both as it heads into the GHSA Class AAAA quarterfinals tonight at 7 against Madison County at West Georgia State University. The 27-3 Lady Bruins are riding a season-high confidence level after upsetting top-ranked Mays in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
They also are still humbled by a Region 7 tournament semifinal loss that relegated the then-top-ranked Lady Bruins to the No. 3 seed and sent them on the road the first two rounds of the state playoffs. That loss may yet turn out to be the best thing that’s happened to the team this year.
“That was a humbling experience,” Stockburger said of the loss to Hillgrove. “That first game after the loss (a win against Sequoyah in the consolation finals) was the hardest thing for us to be able to do as a team after such an emotional loss. But the girls responded, and I can say the practices since then have been among the best we’ve had all year.”
Senior point guard Baleigh Coley, whose two free throws at the end of Wednesday’s game sealed the win, agrees that the team has a different mentality since the loss.
“We were all very upset, but we decided that not winning the region championship shouldn’t stop us from going where we want to go,” Coley said. “The seniors — there are six of us — talked and we told the rest of the team that we didn’t want this season to end quickly and that we all needed to go all out from this point.”
In defeating Mays for the second consecutive season in the second round, the Lady Bruins took control with an 18-6 run in the third period and then held off a strong rally at the end. The major difference in this year’s win is that it came on the road in a very hostile environment against a team motivated by revenge.
“The girls showed me they have the confidence and composure to handle that situation,” Stockburger said. “We’ll need all that and more to make it past the next round.”
Northwest defeated 24-6 Madison County 49-42 in a Christmas tournament earlier this season, but the Red Raiders have won 16 of their past 18 games to reach this round for the second time in three seasons. They are led by guard Lauren Smith, who had 24 points in eliminating Hillgrove on Wednesday, and post Kayla Freeman, who added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Madison County has three other 6-footers but stills fall well short of matching up with the Lady Bruins, who feature 6-foot-5 University of Louisville recruit Quaniesha McCurty and 6-3 Christy Robinson. It’s a matchup Stockburger plans to exploit.
“We’ve got a heighth advantage for sure,” she said. “We should be able to do some things inside. They like to get the ball and go, but that’s what we’re used to.”
The region tournament loss also helped Northwest in another way. The Lady Bruins, as a 3 seed, were put on the other side of the bracket from Southwest DeKalb, the two-time defending champions who eliminated Northwest last year in this round.
“We’re in a pretty good bracket, though it won’t be easy Friday night, or if we win, next Wednesday,” Stockbuger said. “Really, we just have to keep playing the way we are right now. That’s all we can ask.”