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The Briarwood Academy Lady Buccaneers defeated the Lady Eagles of Brentwood School by a score of 43-39 on Jan. 24.
“I really loved the effort our girls made tonight,” head coach Clayton Parrish said. “We really made a lot of plays defensively, and that’s what let us get back in the game and get the win.”
Briarwood scored first on Rachel Coxwell 3-point shot. But the scrappy team from Brentwood fought back and led 14-7 at the end of the first period.
Briarwood trailed for most of the second period. Defensively, the Lady Buc’ held Brentwood to six points for the period, while gradually adding to their own score. A basket by Copeland Price in the final seconds of the first half gave Briarwood a 21-20 lead at half-time.
“Copeland’s a very good athlete, and the play she made at the end of the first half was a very athletic play,” Parrish said. “She caught the ball and made a good, solid shot. We went into half-time with a lot of momentum, and we were able to feed off of that.”
The third period saw the lead switch back and forth several times between the two teams, but Briarwood came out ahead 33-30 at the end of the period. A three-point basket by Shannon Newsome to start the fourth put the Lady Bucs up by 6, and they continued to hold a lead throughout the period. Aggressive play by Brentwood held the score close, but at the final buzzer the Lady Bucs were up by a final score of 43-39.
The Lady Bucs’ leading scorer for the night was Tiffany Pate, with 14 points.
“Tiffany did a great job on defense tonight and blocked a lot of shots,” Parrish said. “But she didn’t have a great first half scoring, so I challenged her during half-time to make more baskets, and she really responded in the second half.”
“My height gave me an advantage blocking shots tonight,” Pate said following the game. “And in the second half, I just settled down and started shooting the ball correctly.”
Rachel Coxwell was the second highest scorer, with 13 points. Ashlyn Dent and Shannon Newsome each had five, and Price, Marcie Rivers and Cameron Stadler had two points each.
With the win the Lady Bucs secured second place with a 9-1 region record.
The Lady Bucs defeated Covenant Academy at home Friday by a score of 58-42, and Windsor Academy away by a score of 52-29.
The Lady Bucs were host to John Hancock Academy on Monday, and traveled to Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School in Athens on Tuesday. They return home for the regular season finale Friday against Gatewood of Eatonton. Game time is 6 p.m.
