The Heritage High School girls’ basketball program secured its first state championship game appearance with a defensive-minded 46-35 win over Pickens in a GHSA Class AAA semifinal Saturday at Legacy Arena in Douglasville.
The Generals (27-4), the bracket’s No. 2 seed, will face fourth-seeded Sandy Creek at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Macon Centreplex. Sandy Creek routed No. 1 seed Monroe Area on Saturday, 85-69. Heritage joins Class AA’s Murray County to give the area two girls’ teams playing for championships next week.
“It’s sort of surreal,” Heritage coach Greg Elkins said. “This doesn’t happen in Catoosa County a whole lot. The last time I remember it was the LFO girls in the early 2000s and Ringgold in the early ’80s, so this is really a special time.”
The sixth-seeded Dragonettes (22-10) scored the game’s first seven points Saturday as Darbi Stanley hit a 3-pointer and Reagan Ludington three free throws in the first 2:10 of the game. However, Paisley Collins hit two free throws to start what would be a 9-1 run to end the quarter as the Generals took a 9-8 lead into the second stanza.
As has been the case throughout this postseason, defense was the key for Heritage.
“We had a lot of film, and the coaches and I broke down all of it — so much so that our eyeballs were hurting,” Elkins laughed. “They run a lot of jet action and cuts that we were concerned about, but after walking through it with our scout team, the girls felt confident with our game plan.
“We were kind of hoping playing in the big arena would play a role tonight with their 3-point shooting. (Ellison) Steinhauer is a great player, and we felt if we could keep her under 15, and the other girls from going off, we had a great chance to win.”
(READ MORE: Heritage girls beat Ridgeland for coach Greg Elkins’ 300th career win)
Stanley opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, but the Dragonettes wouldn’t score again until 1:35 was left in the half. With post presence Collins out with two fouls, Bailee Hollis stepped up offensively for Heritage, hitting the team’s first 3-pointer, with freshman sub Ansley Lawson following with her own trey to make it 17-11 with 1:52 left in the first half.
Pickens closed the gap to three points at four minutes into the final quarter, but Collins and Tori Epps — who finished with a game-high 18 points — followed with back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 10-1 run to end the third quarter with Heritage up 33-21.
Pickens star Steinhauer, held to one point through three quarters, tried to rally the Dragonettes, scoring on consecutive drives to open the fourth to cut her team’s deficit to eight. Epps, though, nailed a 3-pointer and then fed Ema Tanner for a layup to get the lead back up to 13.
Pickens didn’t die, though, with Bree Jewell hitting a 3 that cut it to eight again with 2:42 left, but Epps scored on a spinning drive in the lane and then fed Collins for a layup and a 42-30 lead with just 52 seconds remaining.
“I thought Tori shot the ball really well tonight,” Elkins said of his senior guard. “The rest of our points were from in the lane, and we felt we had an advantage there, but they sagged in the lane on Paisley and Tori, and we felt she had to make a couple from out there and we did.”
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Epps added four rebounds and three steals, Tanner had nine points and seven rebounds, and Collins, despite missing half the game due to foul trouble, added 11 points. Heritage forced 20 turnovers, with Hollis leading the way with three steals.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.