The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IT came down to a battle between two of the league’s top scorers to decide the second finalist for the GSSSA junior girls’ basketball championship series.

Led by point guard Terelle Cox and her game high 17 points, the Lions earned the championship berth with a 22-20 win over the SC McPherson Sharks at CI Gibson Gymnasium yesterday. Cox outplayed the Sharks’ Alliahyah Johnson who finished with a side high 15 points.

HO Nash was able to withstand a frenetic comeback attempt by Johnson, who scored nine points in the game’s final three minutes to close the gap to two points.

Clinging to a slim 8-7 lead at the half, the Lions opened the second half on an 8-0 run, all scored by Cox on three consecutive layups and a pair of makes at the free throw line.

Cox would later cap the run when she split a pair at the line to give her team a 17-9 lead at the 3:49 mark.

Johnson would come alive, willing her team back into contention despite being double and sometimes triple teamed the full length of the floor.

Following a steal and layup by Cox for a 22-9 lead, Johnson finished the half with nine points. She trimmed the deficit, 22-18, with 29 seconds left to play and following a steal, finished a tough runner in the lane to bring the Sharks within two points, 22-20.

The Sharks were able to run the remainder of the clock in regulation to hold on for the win.

“We worked hard for it. It was a tough game, but we worked hard for it and we came out with the win,” Cox said. “We have to pick it up defensively and we will have the game, that’s it. On offence, we do not worry about it too much because once we play good defence and get steals we should be able to score.”

Looking ahead to the championship matchup, Lions’ perennial championship coach Pattie Johnson said her team will have to correct many of the mistakes they made in the second half yesterday to avoid a disappointing loss in the finals.

“Well the game slowed down with a lot of fouls and that got us in trouble. We are trying to get the girls to stop reaching and playing defence with their hands. Tried to get that out of them but it didn’t work as well in the second half,” she said.

“We are going against CH Reeves, they are a gutsy team and they never give up. They remind me of the days when I played because I grew up in that area - Donald Davis, CH Reeves, you learn to play hard to the end so we know they won’t ever give up. If we go in there slacking we could get sorted out.”

The GSSSA championship series in all divisions are slated to begin 4pm Wednesday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.