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The Lady Bucs of Briarwood fell to the visiting Lady Gators of Gatewood Schools on Friday by a score of 61-31.
“It was a frustrating game for us tonight,” head coach Clayton Parrish said following the game. “But our girls played with a lot of heart and I’m proud of them.”
Gatewood scored first, with a three-point shot, quickly matched by a Rachel Coxwell three-pointer to tie the game. It would be the closest Briarwood would come to taking the lead in the game.
Gatewood soon regained the lead and held it for the remainder of the evening. The score stood in Gatewood’s favor 13-8 at the end of the first period.
In the second quarter, Gatewood widened the gap substantially, adding 21 points to their total while hold Briarwood to six points for the period.
Gatewood went into the locker room leading 34-14.
The Lady Bucs fared somewhat better in the third period, adding nine points to the total, but still trailed 50-23 after three periods of play. Despite making every effort to bridge the gap, Briarwood continued to trail throughout the fourth period, and Gatewood took the game with a final score of 61-31.
“I’m really proud of our girls for playing hard tonight,” Parrish said after the game. “We got behind early and we never quit, but Gatewood’s just a really, really good team. They’re undefeated and the No. 1 team in the state for a reason.”
Coxwell was the team’s leading scorer for the night with 9 points, and Tiffany Pate finished with 8 points for the game.
“Rachel and Tiffany have been consistent all season,” Parrish said. “Hopefully they’ll continue to play at that level through the playoffs, and I fully expect both of them to be named All-Region players from our region.”
“It was our last night playing here as seniors,” Coxwell said after the game. “And it was really emotional for us toward the end. We played hard, but we just had a lot of silly turnovers, and that hurt us.”
Ashly Dent had 5 points for the game, Shannon Newsome and Cameron Stadler each had 3, Copeland Price had 2, and Kristian Dawson had 1 point in the game.
Briarwood finished the season with a record of 20 -6, and 12-2 in their region to hold second place in the region. Briarwood began their post-season play Monday night in Piedmont.
