Gilmer County’s Lady Cats had their claws sharpened in hopes of springing a senior night surprise on Fannin County Saturday afternoon, January 8, in Ellijay.
But it didn’t take the Lady Rebels long to remove those claws and take the spring out of the Lady Cats. The end result was a decisive 64-40 victory for Fannin over their Highway 515 rivals.
“Gilmer came out and attacked us from the tip. I think at one point they were up 8-2. We weathered the first run and went on to outscore them 62-32 the rest of the way. I was really proud of the way the girls responded to adversity,” head coach Ryan Chastain said of the Lady Rebels.
The Lady Cats controlled the opening tipoff and quickly put two points on the scoreboard.
Becca Ledford answered by driving for a layup to tie the game at 2-2. It was then the Lady Cats put up six unanswered points to lead 8-2.
Fannin then began its recovery when Ellie Cook hit a pair of free throws to make the score 8-4.
The Lady Rebel defense took the lead 11-10 at the two minute mark off the steal and layup of a Gilmer inbounds pass.
Free throws gave the advantage back to the hosts at 12-11, before Ledford got the lead back at 13-12 when the clock was inching toward the one minute mark in the quarter.
Fannin was up 13-12 at the horn.
The second eight minutes all belonged to Fannin County, paced by ten points from Ledford
Ledford put Fannin’s first four points of the quarter on the board, the first two on a short jump shot, as the Lady Rebels took a 17-12 lead.
The Lady Cats clawed their way back to tie the game at 17-17, with just over five minutes left in the half.
Courtney Davis stepped up for the Lady Rebels, hitting a pair of free throws before striking from three-point range and adding four more free throws for nine second quarter points. Adding to Fannin’s 22-point second quarter was Ellie Cook with a three-pointer.
The final five minutes of the half saw Fannin outscore Gilmer 18-3 to take a 35-20 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Defenses returned to dominate the third quarter of play, but Fannin’s was again stronger, holding the hosts to only eight points while the offense widened the Lady Rebel lead by scoring 17. Fannin held a 52-28 lead at the buzzer off a balanced attack of six points from Cook, four each from Davis and Ledford, and two from Jenna Young and a free throw from Reagan York.
The two teams battled for 12 points apiece in the final eight minutes with Fannin’s offense led by six points from Riley Reeves and two points each from Davis, Jayden Bailey and Macy Hawkins.
“This group is very tough. This was a great team win over a 515 rival,” Chastain said.
FCHS 13 22 17 12 - 64
GCHS 12 8 8 12 - 40
Lady Rebel summary:
Points: Ledford 18, Davis 15, Cook 14, Reeves 6, York 3, O’Neal 2, Young 2, Bailey 2, Hawkins 2.
Free throws: Davis 7-9, Cook 3-3, Ledford 2-3, Bailey 2-2, York 1-2.