Published: February 09, 2010 11:26 pm      

Lady Bruins in charge

Upend state No. 1 Rome

Rome’s girls basketball team went to Northwest Whitfield on Tuesday night with the better record and state ranking, a reputation for high-powered, fast-paced offense and the longer winning streak.

Northwest Whitfield paid no attention to the first accolade, figured out how to counter the second, then put the third to rest.

With balanced scoring from starters and good support from their bench, the Lady Bruins built a big lead early, then came back late for a 68-58 victory in Tunnel Hill that locked up the No. 1 seed for the Region 7-4A tournament and denied the Lady Wolves a perfect regular season.

“We know they’ve been winning a lot of games,” said Northwest senior Emily Trew, whose own team’s winning streak is now at 21 games. “But we go into games thinking about playing our game, not worrying about what the other team does.”

Rome (24-1, 13-1 Region 7-4A), the No. 1 team in the latest GaSports.com Class 4A coaches poll, hadn’t lost since the first round of last year’s state tournament. But Lady Wolves coach Kevin Strickland knew his team had a tough test waiting in the form of fourth-ranked Northwest (22-2, 13-0) — and he could have told you that even before the Lady Bruins exited a fast-paced first quarter with a 23-14 lead.

“They’ve just got so many weapons,” Strickland said. “Their guards can handle the ball under pressure for the most part, they shoot it really well and then they’ve got two girls inside that can rebound. ... They’re good, period.”

The Lady Wolves, who before Tuesday had been held to fewer than 60 points just five times this season, weren’t without impressive moments. Desiree Scott led all scorers with 20 points and Mauri Wells, who added 11, made some shots plenty of players wouldn’t even try.

But in narrowing the options for Rome, which sank five 3-pointers, the Lady Bruins believed they gained an advantage.

“A lot of the shots they made were difficult shots,” Northwest senior Christy Robinson said. “We were going to give them some of those 3-pointers because our first thing was just protecting the lane, and they really didn’t get that many shots in the lane.”

Balance in the scorebook was no problem for Northwest, which got 13 points apiece from Baleigh Coley, Quaneisha McCurty, and Trew, nine from Robinson and eight from Jordi Cook, all starters, plus 10 from substitute Kayla Piorkowski. McCurty added 10 rebounds and Coley eight, while Robinson had four blocks and Trew four assists.

Northwest closes its regular season today with a 6 p.m. makeup game against visiting Allatoona that’s of no consequence to its seed for the region tournament, which begins on Friday. The Lady Bruins earned a first-round bye, so they won’t play until they host a second-round game next week.

“I think after we come in here tomorrow night and do a good job, that will give us some time to get our legs back under us,” said Lady Bruins coach Margaret Stockburger, whose team will play its sixth game in nine days tonight. “We were in the same position last year, a lot of the same team members, so I think they’ll be ready to do what they need to do.”

While the Lady Bruins’ good start certainly helped on Tuesday — they led by 11 midway through the first quarter — their calmness through a rough patch in the second half likely made the biggest difference.

Although ahead 36-32 at halftime, Northwest showed some vulnerability during the second quarter as a 9-0 run allowed Rome to come within a point of the lead inside the final two minutes of the half. Then the Lady Wolves took control in the third quarter, outscoring Northwest by six points, and went ahead 50-46 just after the final quarter’s start.

They weren’t in a position to relax very long.

Moments later, the 6-foot-3-inch Robinson’s conversion of a three-point play kicked off a 9-0 run for the Lady Bruins, who used a half-court attack to settle down as their guards sent the ball in to Robinson and her fellow post, the 6-5 McCurty.

“Our tallest person is, like, 5-9,” Scott said. “I think we played pretty good against them, but they just outweighed us in a lot of ways.”

With Rome forced to foul late, the Lady Bruins sealed their win with free throws. Northwest was 19-for-23 in the game at the line, including 13-for-15 in the fourth quarter.

Summer Starr grabbed 11 rebounds for Rome, while Vanessa Calhoun had nine points.