Good start doesn't last for upstart Hancock Central in championship

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            The scoreboard after a quarter looked pretty good for Hancock Central.

            The Bulldogs led one-loss Lake Oconee Academy by three points, albeit only by a 7-4 margin.

            Certainly the teams would get going in the second quarter.

            One did, and it wasn’t Hancock Central.

            Lake Oconee made six more shots in the second quarter and grabbed seven more rebounds to take control en route to a 45-29 win Wednesday over Hancock Central in the GHSA Class A Public girls state championship at the Macon Coliseum.

            The Bulldogs ended the season with their first trip to the finals, and with an 18-4 record. Lake Oconee finished 26-1.

            Hancock Central had a rugged afternoon from the floor, shooting an icy 18.7 percent en route to its lowest point total of the season by seven points (against 4A semifinalist Baldwin and AA second-rounder Washington County). Jameria Lawrence and Sonovia Reynolds each had eight points, and they teamed for 16 of the Bulldogs’ 35 rebounds.

            Lake Oconee didn’t light it up, either, connecting 30.6 percent of the team. Long-range wasn’t a good idea for either team. Hancock Central was 1 for 16 on 3s to 2 for 23 for LOA.

            “We didn’t rebound, and we weren’t really hustling like we normally do,” Hancock Central head coach Kalycia Harrell said. “When they did start doing those things at some point in the game, they saw there was a difference.”

            The Titans took the lead for good on a 15-footer from Jada Williams three minutes into the second quarter, going up 12-10. They outscored the Bulldogs 10-4 after that, Hancock Central making one of five shots and turning it over four times in that stretch.

Hancock Central got off to a good start in the GHSA Class A Public girls championship game, but some nerves started affecting the Bulldogs, who went into a funk in their championship debut.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Central Georgia Sports Report

            Lake Oconee led 22-14 at the half.

            “My girls kind of got down on themselves,” Harrell said. “That was the main reason. If we had never got down on ourselves, the outcome could’ve been different. With four seniors and six underclassmen, it is different, because with nobody ever making it this far before,  it’s a different type of anxiety.”

            The margin grew to double figures at the 4:42 mark of the third quarter, Lake Oconee’s patience taking time off the clock and adding to Hancock County’s frustrations, which grew with some unfriendly rims.

            “The rims did not like us at all today,” Harrell said after watching her team get second chances on close-in shots and have many shots not fall. “I was confused. I tell them to use the square. And this time, (shots) kept rolling in and out.

            “That was definitely frustrating.”

            Hancock Central found some juice late in the third quarter with Lake Oconee on the verge of pulling away after growing the lead to 14. Neither was sharp, and it was a 12-point margin after three.

            The Bulldogs held ground and battled to get it to 10 almost two minutes into the fourth, but  shots teased on the rim before falling out, and the Titans got to more tipped and loose balls, the lead slowly expanding to 18 at the 1:13 mark.

            “This experience is going to help the underclassmen learn what they can do to improve and be back on this stage,” Harrell said. “And then have a championship.”