Lady Canes, Hurricanes advance to region title games on Friday
February 14, 2024
The Cartersville girls and boys basketball teams earned their way into the Region 7-5A title games on Friday night with victories on Wednesday evening.
The Lady Canes held off the Calhoun Lady Jackets in a tightly contested battle, 37-36, while the Hurricanes won a back-and-forth battle to top the Dalton Catamounts 50-47.
Both Cartersville teams have secured a home state playoff game next week as either a No. 1 or No. 2-seed in the Class AAAAA state tournament.
CARTERSVILLE GIRLS 37, CALHOUN 36
The Lady Canes edged Calhoun for the third time this season Wednesday evening to win a semifinal matchup at the Storm Center, 37-36.
Cartersville led 8-5 at the end of a low-scoring first quarter but the Lady Jackets carried an 18-16 lead to the locker room at halftime. Cartersville outscored Calhoun 16-11 in the third period to regain the lead, 32-29. The two teams then exchanged leads in the final quarter and Calhoun had at least three shots in the final 20 seconds but the Lady Canes escaped with a one-point win.
Kat Atha and Saniah Dorsey led Calhoun with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Senai Camper scored 13 points to lead Cartersville. Ansley Griffin followed with eight. KK Arnold chipped in with six points. Nayel Camper and Taff Bradley added five points each.
In the late semifinal game on Wednesday, Dalton defeated Hiram 66-41.
Calhoun (17-10) will play for third place on Friday at 4 p.m. against Hiram (12-14).
Cartersville (15-11) will face Dalton (17-9) for the region championship on Friday at 7 p.m.
CARTERSVILLE BOYS 50, DALTON 47
The Hurricanes led at the end of each quarter Wednesday night but the Dalton Catamounts stayed close the entire way in Cartersville’s 50-47 region semifinal win at the Storm Center.
The two teams won their home games during the regular season head-to-head contests with Cartersville winning on January 9, 49-41, and Dalton winning on January 30, 66-51.
Wednesday evening, Cartersville led 14-7 after the opening eight minutes and 25-24 at the intermission. The Canes maintained a 39-38 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
Drew Snyder paced the Catamounts with 17 points. RJ Story and Kobi Cooper added nine points each for Dalton.
DJ Cain led the Canes with 18 points. Monte Tolbert followed with 12. Nas Bennett contributed 11 points. Ced McClinic finished with four while Kaden Baldwin and Reed Ezell added three and two points, respectively.
Dalton (13-13) will play for third place on Friday at the Storm Center against Hiram (16-9) at 5:30 p.m. The Hornets lost Wednesday night's late semifinal to Calhoun in triple overtime, 78-73.
Cartersville (13-13) advances to the Region 7-5A title game against Calhoun (10-15) on Friday at 8:30 p.m.
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