CARROLLTON -- For about a half Friday night, Madison County appeared to be in Final Four form.
Then came the third quarter.
No. 3 seed Northwest Whitfield outscored Madison County 21-6 during that period and led by as much as 21 points in the fourth quarter in a 61-42 victory in the Class AAAA girls’ basketball quarterfinals at the University of West Georgia.
The loss denied Madison County its second trip to the Final Four in three years. It finished the year at 24-7.
"We just didn't execute very well offensively," coach Dan Lampe said. "We didn't turn them over for easy points either."
Northwest Whitfield featured a pair of twin towers in 6'5" Quaneisha McCurty and 6'3" Christy Robinson which created problems for Madison County's offense.
"Our offense, a lot of it is predicated on getting to the rim, but with those big girls, we had a hard time finishing," Lampe said.
Senior guard Lauren Smith was the only Madison County player to reach double figures, scoring 17 points in her final game to lead the Lady Raiders.
Madison County leaned heavily on its 3-point shooting in the first half, scoring 15 points from behind the arc to take a 21-20 lead at the break. Molly Glaze hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the second quarter to give the Lady Raiders that one-point edge.
Madison County led by as much as seven points during the first 16 minutes.
But Northwest Whitfield answered in the second half by going inside to one of its two big posts frequently. Robinson scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Lady Bruins took a 41-27 lead and never looked back. Robinson finished with 16 points.
"Their posts absolutely killed us," Lampe said. "When their post game gets going, you've got to bring help down, and then they kick out and find the open shooter. And they just drained shots."
Madison County mounted a slight rally, cutting Northwest Whitfield’s advantage to 48-40 when Smith hit a 3-pointer with 3:30 left. But the Lady Bruins ended the Lady Raiders’ Final Four dreams with consecutive 3-pointers from Baleigh Coley and Jordi Cook.
Kayla Freeman added nine points for Madison County, which has advanced to two Sweet 16s, a Final Four and an Elite Eight over the last four years. Shantydra Arnold and Juvonna Fleming both scored five points in their final games. Glaze had six points.
Both Freeman and Glaze will be back next year, but Madison County must replace Smith, Arnold and Fleming who have been backcourt mainstays during the Lady Raiders’ prolific four-year run.
"It's going to be hard to replace," Lampe said. "You're taking out three just cornerstone girls from the program. We lost Courtney (Freeman) last year. This will be a harder loss."
