Lady Colonels, Lady Canes win state tourney openers
February 18, 2025
There was plenty of high school basketball state tournament action on Tuesday night involving local teams.
In GHSA first-round girls’ games, the Cartersville Lady Canes and the Cass Lady Colonels advanced to Friday’s Sweet Sixteen round in Class AAAA.
Cartersville bounced visiting Cambridge 56-24 and Cass outlasted Region 6-AAAA runner-up Blessed Trinity, 44-41.
In Milledgeville, the Adairsville Lady Tigers ended their season with a narrow loss to top-ranked Baldwin, 60-52.
GHSA Class AAAA State Tournament First Round
CASS GIRLS 44, BLESSED TRINITY 41
The Lady Colonels went on the road to Roswell Tuesday night and outbattled the Blessed Trinity Lady Titans 44-41.
In a tight contest for four quarters, Blessed Trinity led 8-7 after one quarter and 22-20 at halftime. The Lady Colonels pulled ahead 33-26 to end the third quarter and held on down the stretch with some solid defense to win by three points.
“Our kids did a nice job of getting stops late in the game,” said Cass coach Brandon Harrell following the win. “It certainly wasn’t our best performance of the year, but our kids really gutted it out.”
Cadie Paez led Cass with 12 points. Nakayla “KK” Evans followed closely with 11 points. Kiana McDaniel finished with eight points — all in the first half. Summerlyn Smith and Anizah Taylor added six and five points, respectively.
Addie Spak scored 17 points for Blessed Trinity (9-16). Abby Woodward added nine points.
Cass (13-13) travels to face Region 4-AAAA champion and No. 1-ranked Creekside on Friday night in Fairburn. The Seminoles (28-0) defeated Griffin in Tuesday’s opening round 65-24.
GHSA Class AAAA State Tournament First Round
CARTERSVILLE GIRLS 56, CAMBRIDGE 24
The Lady Canes shutout visiting Cambridge in the second quarter Tuesday night at The Storm Center and cruised in the second half for a 56-24 win in the first round of the Class AAAA state tournament.
The Bears trailed 12-10 after the opening eight minutes but did not score in the second quarter as Cartersville took a 23-10 lead to the intermission. The Lady Canes expanded their advantage to 40-16 by the end of the third quarter in their 32-point win.
Blakely Morris led the scoring column for the Lady Canes with 15 points. She added four rebounds and one steal. KK Arnold totaled 11 points, seven steals, and three assists. Senai Camper finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Zoe McCurry score six points. Trinity Montgomery and Zoie Shiflett contributed five points.
Gabi Johnson led Cambridge (10-17) with nine points.
Cartersville (19-9) will host Pace Academy in the second round on Friday night in the Sweet Sixteen. Pace Academy, a 4-seed, knocked off Region 3-AAAA champ Harris County in Tuesday’s opening round 54-44.
GHSA Class AAA State Tournament First Round
BALDWIN 60, ADAIRSVILLE GIRLS 52
The Adairsville girls trailed for most of the final three quarters Tuesday night in a 60-52 loss at No. 1-ranked Baldwin, but narrowed the Lady Braves’ lead to four points with less than 90 seconds remaining. Baldwin held on, however, for a 60-52 first-round win in the Class AAA state tournament.
Adairsville led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter before Baldwin grabbed a 30-21 halftime edge. The Braves maintained a 40-27 advantage by the end of the third period.
“That was a very physical Baldwin team,” noted Adairsville coach Melissa Winters. “They had four girls that were 6’0” to 6’2” and they simply out rebounded us. We cut their lead down to four late, but didn’t get over that hump.”
Adairsville made eight three pointers and did not allow a three-pointer by Baldwin.
Janaye Walker led the Braves with 22 points. Suri Clark and Kassidy Neal finished with 16 points.
NaXyria Roberts paced the Tigers with 17 points. Rihanna Crittenden scored 10 points. Ziyah Hicks contributed eight points and Lily Roberts finished with seven points.
“We played scrappy and pushed the paced of the game effectively,” added Winters. “We ran the floor well and their team wasn’t used to that or our pressure. I felt like we had a great effort and energy.”
Baldwin improved to 22-6 on the season and will host White County in the second round on Friday. White County beat Bainbridge 74-34 Tuesday night.
Adairsville had its season end with an 11-16 mark.
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