The Gans girls overcome an off-night and an inspired effort by Cave Springs on Saturday to claim the Class A Area III District 3 title with a 55-50 victory at Childers Middle School.
The win was the ninth in a row for the Lady Grizzlies and pushed their record to 17-5, but head coach Lenny Cooper was far from pleased.
“We didn’t come to play tonight,” said Cooper. “I don’t know what to say—we didn’t play well at all. But give credit to Cave Springs because they came to play and they played hard.”
The Lady Grizzlies struggled with turnovers and free throw shooting. They were just 17 of 41 from the line (41.5 percent), but finally found the range in the fourth quarter.
Cave Springs rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit with a 20-8 run in the third period to grab a 34-33 lead entering the fourth.
Gans converted 7 of 8 free throws in the final six minutes and got a pair of huge baskets from Shelbi Brown to thwart Cave Springs’ upset bid.
Gans was clinging to a 49-48 lead with two minutes left when Brown bombed in a trey from the wing to push the Lady Grizzly advantage to four.
Shyla Burgess drove to the hoop to pull the Lady Hornets within 52-50 with 40 seconds left. After a Gans timeout, Ayanna Holtz inbounded the ball to Brown and the senior guard zipped to the basket to restore the Lady Grizzly lead to four points with :30 remaining.
“Shelbi’s a senior and she can do that for us. She stepped up and those were some big baskets,” said Cooper.
Gans was led by double-doubles from Becca Brannon and Holtz. Junior post Brannon scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while freshman guard Holtz had 12 points, 13 rebounds, two blocked shots and five steals.
Freshman Bailey Fargo grabbed another 10 rebounds to go with eight points for Gans. Brown finished with eight points and five steals, while Taylor Goff scored four points and dished out five assists.
Cave Springs, which knocked off tournament host Summit Christian 62-48 the night before, was led by 16 points from Burgess. Meriah Scott added nine for the Lady Hornets.
An early 3-pointer by Holtz staked Gans to a 9-4 lead, but Cave Springs came back to lead 13-11 after one period of play. The Lady Grizzlies shut down Cave Springs in the second quarter, holding them to 0-for-16 shooting from the floor while going on a 14-1 surge to build a 25-14 halftime lead.
Cave Springs was on target in the third quarter, though, as three different players nailed 3-pointers to get the Lady Hornets back into the contest.
Gans held off the comeback bid in the fourth period to claim the championship and move into the regional winners bracket.
The Lady Grizzlies will play Quinton at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Gans.
Cave Springs will take on Keota in a losers bracket contest at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Gans.
Cave Springs 58, Gans 42
Cave Springs jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and went on to eliminate the Grizzlies on Friday night in a first-round district playoff game.
The Hornets took a 19-9 lead into the second period, extended it to 13 by halftime and then put the game away with an 18-5 run in the third stanza.
Andy Blake scored 12 points to pace Gans. Cody Johnson added nine, Dylan Woodruff eight, Josh Prewitt eight, Braily Couffer three and Ryhan Qureshi two.
Cave Springs was led by Hunter Smith with 23 points and another 19 from Two Leaf Ross.
The Hornets advanced to Saturday’s district final against No. 5-ranked Summit Christian, but fell 73-34.
Cave Springs will be in the regional losers bracket and take on Keota at 3 p.m. Thursday at Gans.
