ROME, Ga. – Randy Watson couldn’t go into much detail on his halftime speech, but needless to say, the Dade County High School girls’ basketball coach maybe should bottle it for future use.
Trailing a Murray County team it had soundly beaten twice this season in a do-or-die quarterfinal game at the Region 7-AA tournament at Georgia Highlands College on Wednesday, Watson cut loose on his struggling team. The resulting 47-32 Lady Wolverines’ win wasn’t about better effort in the second half.
The state playoff-clinching win was more about a state of mind than anything else.
“The first half we played extremely tight,” explained Watson, whose team trailed 23-20 at the half. “They did a great job defending us, but it seemed like we panicked a bit and we were acting like we were down 30. We just had to settle down, get into our halfcourt game and guard them.”
Guard them they did. Dade (20-5) pitched a shutout in the third period, forcing numerous turnovers and at least a half-dozen airballs from the young Lady Indians (7-17). The second half also saw senior guard Erika Woodfin take over offensively. Trailing 23-22, Woodfin hit a 3-pointer, the first of 10 consecutive points for the senior guard.