Fannin Breaks Hart

In the second round of the Region 8AA basketball tournament, the Fannin County Lady Rebels were pit against the Lady Bulldogs, of Hart County. The Lady Rebels outlasted the Lady Bulldogs 52-45. The pace of the game was and fast and furious with Fannin’s Brooke Thomas playing the role of Vin Diesel (16 points, 10 rebounds), and Cherish Evans playing Paul Walker (11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal). The back and forth affair began with the Lady Rebels striking first on a layup by Kelsey Panter on the opening possession of the game; however, Hart’s Marissa Craft answered with a layup to tie the game at 2-2. The Lady Rebels scored two more quick buckets, but after back to back steals by the crafty Craft, Fannin was down 7-6. The two teams battled to a 10-10 tie, with four minutes left in the first quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs were bombing from behind the ark and were trapping like it was the first of the month, causing numerous turnovers; this allowed Hart to take a 19-14 lead. Craft had all three of her steals in the first quarter; however she missed two fast break layup after two of them. The Lady Rebels were able to get the defensive rebound both times and scored on the ensuing offensive possession. A three by Thomas cut Hart’s lead to 21-19, the final score of the first quarter.

The scoring pace never equaled the first quarter, as both teams settled in defensively. The second quarter saw neither team score in double digits. Hart scored 7 while Fannin scored 9. The Lady Bulldogs went into half time up 31-28.

Evans drew first blood in the second half with a game tying three. Hart, so hot from beyond the arc in the first half; was colder than Vanilla Ice’s career after “Ninja Rap” from three land in the second half.

With Hart’s shot not falling, the Lady Bulldogs struggled for points. There was virtually no inside game as the Lady Rebels out rebounded the Lady Bulldogs 39-19. Kaileigh Satterfield had a monster game on the glass, corralling 16 rebounds, she also had 9 points. Only 15 total points were scored in the third quarter.

Only four points were scored in the first two minutes of the final quarter, both by the Lady Rebels. Hart cut the lead to 42-40 with four minutes left. The Lady Rebels scored the next six points, including back to back layups by Evans, to make the score 48-42 in Fannin’s favor. Hart got within four (44-40) with 1:17 left in the game, but only scored one more point the rest of the game.