BASKETBALL: Bacon County crumbles under full-court press as East Laurens girls keep cooking in quarters

It’s hard not to use football terms to describe the caliber of thumping the East Laurens girls basketball team delivered in the state quarterfinals Tuesday night.

With their latest convincing win in an increasingly dominant state tournament run, the Lady Falcons demolished previously twice-defeated Bacon County in a fashion Steve Spurrier would have admired, rolling 64-42 to clinch a second-straight berth in the GHSA Final Four. 

The fact that this one, their third in a row by margins of 20 points or more, humbled such a highly rated opponent (seeded No. 6 overall) was additional validation for a team that, with each passing game, continues to certify itself as a legitimate state title contender. 

“It feels good,” said East Laurens head coach Danielle Lowther. “Being able to do it against a good Bacon County team, coached by a good coach, it feels really good.”

The Red Raiders (27-3, 11-1 region 1-High A) got taken to the woodshed in a lopsided first half, and only recovered down the stretch of the second to climb back – from as far behind as 30 – to within 17 points as their late rally peaked with a few minutes to go in the game. 

But just like they did in a second-round victory the prior weekend, the Lady Falcons (26-4, 13-2 region 2-High A) had put it squarely away with just one half of their merciless full-court pressure.

The “diamond” zone scheme that had taken a similar toll on Brantley County in seven scoreless opening minutes Friday night had Bacon’s squad nearly as flustered. And it was hard to tell whether the exasperation was greater on the court for its ball-handlers dealing with the constant presence of trapping defenders and arms in passing lanes, or in the seats among Raider fans who didn’t seem to know what to make of the sight as they watched their team’s usually well-composed offense come completely undone.

Through 16 minutes, they found few consistent ways to get the ball out of the backcourt without a turnover or tie-up besides simply putting it in the hands of leading scorer Marnay’jah “Apple” Reynolds to dribble her way through the gauntlet of defensive obstacles. 

Reynolds had the only seven Bacon County points in the first quarter.

The Raiders’ other starter averaging double figures in scoring, 6-foot-2 forward Makayla Thomas, was not a first-half factor after getting into severe foul trouble a little over five minutes into the game. She remained seated throughout the second quarter, allowing East Laurens forwards Deanna Lowther and Garyunna Mitchell – who were already more than holding their own in the post and rebounding matchups – to run amok inside. 

Joy Jones and Kia Brown scratched out the only two additional Bacon County field goals in the second quarter as the Lady Falcons built their lead of 14-7 up to 35-12 by halftime. 

“We watched I don’t know how many different films of them playing different opponents and checking out defenses and trying to figure out what (Reynolds) does and what (Thomas) does,” Coach Lowther said. “We knew that (Reynolds) loves to dribble. So we were trying to close up every driving lane that she had. At the end of the game, she kind of got loose a little bit, but for the most part, our gameplan worked.” 

A lot of that success continued well through halftime, though East Laurens ran into a similar issue from its last game in maintaining a huge lead with more time remaining than it could effectively kill. 

The Raiders were left a tiny opening only by East’s volume of missed free throws: 35 out of 58 in a game total that bordered on the absurd. 

In the end, the Lady Falcons were up so big, so early that Bacon County was bound to take back some ground as it finally gained a little momentum, and forced them to play through the mounting late-game attrition at the same early level of intensity. 

“We responded,” Coach Lowther said. “They were in foul trouble, we were in foul trouble… (Reynolds) and (Thomas) sat the whole first half, so I knew they were going to have a little bit more energy than we did.” 

Jateria Smith hit a 3-pointer in a 5-0 Raider run in the last couple minutes that ruled out chances East would be able to get its lead – which had at least twice hit or exceeded the 30-point target – over the line to knock off two of the game’s final eight minutes. 

Reynolds heated up and scored 19 of the 21 opposing points in the fourth as Bacon County chipped away eight more in the next five minutes to get the type of comeback brewing that, if it had started a quarter sooner, would have had the Lady Falcons sweating. 

But if time didn’t run out on the Raiders, their limited manpower did. And sky-high foul totals would catch up with three players out of their 10 on the active roster (of which only nine actually appeared) before Thomas became a fourth to foul out – in a final straw – with a little under three minutes left. 

The shot-blocking machine, posted at the center of their 2-3 zone defense, had been the only major problem for East Laurens during her limited action.

Early in the night, the junior stood her ground inside against both Deanna Lowther and Mitchell, neither of which were shy in their aggressiveness whether going after rebounds or asking for the ball. 

But her first two fouls came quickly in the first quarter, and a third that Bacon County could ill afford before even eight minutes were gone had her on the shelf through halftime. Both in the Lady Falcons’ front two, from there, pretty much took what they wanted. 

You could tell a similar difference in the fourth as Deanna Lowther drew that key fifth foul on a drive to the bucket, and promptly knocked down both in a pair of free throws to take the Eastside lead from 17 back to 19.  

The next trip down, following a stop, was a field day on the offensive glass. At least three Lady Falcons touched the ball once, and Deanna Lowther finally knocked one back in to push the lead back above 20, and firmly dismiss any lingering doubts. 

East Laurens led the scoring 4-3 in the remaining time.

Reynolds finished with 26 points for the Bacon County lead.  

Four Lady Falcons had double-digit totals, Deanna Lowther the leader with 17, Zahmaria Robinson with 15, Mitchell with 14 (12 in the first half) and Jameria Bing with 13. 

There was no real-time tally of boards, but it’s entirely possible Deanna Lowther and Mitchell (who combined to shoot 32 free throws) had Bacon County out-rebounded by double digits in the first quarter alone. 

Both (Lowther with 20 and Mitchell with 12), along with Robinson (10), had a double-digit share of the team’s 55 rebounds.

Robinson also posted team-highs with her eight assists and four steals.

The especially physical start, never more so than in a stretch of about four minutes in which every possession seemed to end in a jump ball, had the scoreboard stuck at 4-4 for a while until East Laurens finally broke the logjam with a steal that turned a Bacon County fast-break into a quick counter, with Mitchell running wide-open for the go-ahead layup. 

Her made basket, helping bolster the Lady Falcons’ press, was a first of 10 unanswered points that put them in control. 

East started the second on another 10-0 run, blowing its way straight through the Raiders’ attempts to set some midcourt traps and slow things down as both forwards made the most of a virtually clean shot at the basket on drives and crashes for rebounds. 

They continued to have their way on defense, and panes of glass, with Deanna, who seemed to want this one badly, winning seemingly every battle for a board or loose ball – even several she probably shouldn’t have gotten her hands on. 

Bacon County scored likely its first putback basket of the game to start a 4-0 run, and collected some intermittent field goals in the last few minutes of the second before East Laurens finished up the half confidently on a string of five straight points at the foul line.

Visiting partisans who seemed to have a gripe with every blast of the whistle will point to the free throw disparity as a biggest of their many quarrels with the night’s officiating. However, the Raiders also failed to take advantage of their 22 opportunities at the line, converting only seven. 

The armchair brigade, red in the face with indignation about seemingly every detail of the game except the heavily tilted rebound and turnover margins, stayed hot as East Laurens continued to shred its way to a bigger lead in the third quarter, despite Thomas’ return to get a hand on a few more shot attempts down low. 

Bacon County baskets remained scarce, as the Lady Falcons slowly added more on. 

Bing twice took the margin to 30 on a free throw and a mid-range floater, but East Laurens couldn’t get it to the finish line, and the third quarter closed with a score of 50-25. 

No. 2 seed Thomasville came from behind to edge Rabun County 46-44 on its home court Tuesday night for the right to face the Lady Falcons in the 5 p.m. game Saturday at Fort Valley State University. 

And while their plan of attack, defensively, remains to be seen as they take a close look at the thrice-beaten Lady Dogs in the upcoming days, it’s a safe bet that some similar variety of the full-court pressure that’s brought them here – and once again became even more formidable in this latest round of action – will be part of the gameplan.

“We’ll focus on defense and focus on what (Thomasville) likes to do and being able to counteract that,” Coach Lowther said. 

She also used the word “hungry” to describe the demeanor of her team, which is led by a group of players who had a slightly smaller hand in last year’s run to this same Final Four stage, but returns to the semis with plenty to prove, and an eagerness to keep another special postseason going.

“Everybody wants to win,” Coach Lowther said. “We’ve got a sisterhood, here everybody’s fighting for each other, it’s just great. It’s a great feeling.”