Semis at stake in North Cobb double duel

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Ali Vaughn (left) and Brannen Greene (14) can only watch as Tadric Jackson (12) fends off a Westlake defender for two of his team-high 27 points Saturday. The Blue Devils and Lady Devils have a state quartefinals doubleheader tonight with North Cobb, starting at 6 p.m. Eddie Senkbeil/sgasports.net

February 26, 2013

Semis at stake in North Cobb double duel

Becky Taylor CNHI The Tifton Gazette Tue Feb 26, 2013, 08:51 PM EST

TIFTON — For the first time in school history, the Tift County High Blue Devils will not only be hosting a quarterfinals doubleheader in their own gymnasium, but have the opportunity to send both teams to the semifinals when the boys and girls of Acworth, the North Cobb Warriors, invade tonight. The girls game tips at 6 p.m., with the boys game scheduled for 7:30. The boys game will be a matchup of the top two teams in the state. Tift is ranked No. 1in Class AAAAAA, the Warriors are No. 2.

Whoever wins the girls game tomorrow, it will be a long time coming for either school. The Lady Devils last reached the semifinals in 1992, when they were eliminated by the ultimate state champions, Cedar Shoals. Tift also took fourth place in 1967 and third as Tifton High in 1955. For North Cobb, it was 1967, when the future state champs knocked them out, in their case being Central of Thomasville.

The Lady Warriors are 26-3 this year. After winning their first 12, they were defeated at the Upward Classic Christmas tournament. The other two losses were consecutive ones in January, one to McEachern, 51-38, the other to Kell, 49-44. Since then, they have reeled off 12 consecutive wins.

“They’re long and lean,” said Lady Devils’ coach Julie Conner. Like their previous two opponents, North Cobb likes outside shooting. “They’re not much of an inside team,” she said. “They shoot threes from daylight ‘til dawn.” Their roster features the school’s all-time leading scorer, Amber Reeves. In her four years as a Lady Warrior, she has over 1,300 points.

Tift has had a scoring race all season between Dee Dee DeShazer and Alexis Johnson. Both have scored over 400 points and are averaging 15 per game. The Lady Devils, still riding high after a slow start, lost their first game of the year to Westover, 44-26, and were 3-3 before they had their own winning streak, one that lasted 15 games before it was broken by Valdosta. Currently, they are 23-6 and currently only hold a four-game winning streak, but it has been in the games that mattered. They won their two region tournament games, including a revenge win over Valdosta in the finals. The first two rounds of state went 65-55 against Campbell and a 55-38 victory over Newton Saturday night.

Saturday’s game was a sellout that saw around 400 fans turned away. Conner said the support has lifted the team even higher. “I can’t tell you how much it means to come down those steps with the crowds,” she said. “Our fans have just been super.”

Devils’ coach Dr. Eric Holland agrees that the support has been a big boost. He said some of the players even refer to the fans as being their sixth man and attributes the fast start against Westlake to the atmosphere. “It had a lot to do with our crowd,” he said. “We’ve been very excited, very impressed. We’ve said we can’t let these people down.”

Westlake fell Saturday, 100-83. Tift had a 36-12 lead after the first quarter. Their first round game, a 70-48 win, was against an opponent very familiar to North Cobb — McEachern. The two are from the same region, 4-AAAAAA. In three games against the Indians, they have won three times. The first two were four-point wins, including one in overtime, before a 53-36 blowout in the region tournament.

The Warriors also played Coffee in the first round of state, winning 70-45. Coffee is the Blue Devils’ only loss to a Georgia school this year, an 88-83 contest played in Douglas. The game came a day before Tift flew to Massachusetts for the Hoophall Classic and they avenged the defeat in region, 79-50.

Holland said North Cobb preferred a halfcourt game. “They play good man-to-man,” he said. “They pass it around pretty well.”

While the semifinals will be a relatively new experience for the Lady Devils, it is a position that both the school and Holland is well-familiar. Tift made the semis two years ago and were stopped by Milton at Gwinnett Arena. Holland’s teams at Turner County were also runners-up in 2008 and 2009. The Devils also made the semis in 2007 and were runners-up in 2004. The school’s lone state championship in basketball came in 1996.

While this is not new territory for North Cobb, last year’s quarterfinals appearance was as far as they have ever gone, and in their 55-year history it has been their only trip this deep.

After Saturday’s sellout, Tift County High has determined that 1,600 tickets will be sold to the gymnasium for tonight’s game. The Performing Arts Center has been set up to hold 750 more and will provide live video and radio coverage.

If Tift is able to advance to the semifinals, the game (or games) will be held Saturday, March 2 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

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