Fresh from a night off this Tuesday, Winder-Barrow’s girls hope they’ll be well-rested for an important three-game stretch in the subregion schedule.
The third-place Lady Bulldogs (6-8, 2-1) take on Habersham Central Friday, cross-town rival Apalachee Saturday and region-leading Clarke Central Tuesday as they continue to jockey for the best postseason positioning possible.
“They’re big games,” coach Brenda Gilmore said. “It’s very important that we play well in them to determine our seeding in the region tournament.”
The region tournament play-in games begin Feb. 11-12. The 8-AAAA quarter finals (Feb. 15-16) as well as the semifinals and finals (Feb. 17-18) will be played at Winder-Barrow High School.
Behind an 18-point performance by Brittany Witt, the Lady Bulldoggs picked up their second subregion victory Friday with a 46-38 victory over 8-AAAA newcomer Flowery Branch.
Delorean Itabiyi turned in a double-double performance with 15 points and 10 boards in addition to Witt’s big night. Jasmine Mask added 10 points.
Winder-Barrow trailed 30-22 at the half, but rallied thanks to an improved effort on the defensive end in the final two quarters.
“I think the intensity level really picked up,” Gilmore said. “I think it made a huge difference in the game.”
Gilmore pointed particularly to the efforts of Jasmine Lyles who came off the bench and applied some “good, hard-nose defense” to Flowery Branch to slow the Lady Falcons’ offense.
Now, Winder-Barrow looks for its third subregion victory when it host Habersham Central Friday. The Lady Raiders are 0-2 in subregion play, but are 13-3 overall.
The Lady Bulldoggs then renew their rivalry with Apalachee on the road Saturday. Winder-Barrow rallied to edge the Lady Wildcats 50-48 in the first meeting of the two schools Jan. 7.
“They were beating us and our kids came out in the second half and hit some big shots and played some great defense,” Gilmore said.
The coach expects the rematch to be just as intense.
“I know they’re upset about that and want some revenge,” said Gilmore, who noted that this would also be a big game for both teams in determining their postseason seeding.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Gilmore said.
The same could be said for Tuesday when the Lady Bulldoggs take on Clarke Central, which with a 4-0 mark in 8-AAAA North play, is tied for the subregion lead with Madison County.
“They’re really athletic … “They’ve got players who can shoot the three-ball well and defend well,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore said these subregion contests – as well as those in the region tournament – essentially comes down to who can give a consistent effort for 32 minutes.
Things could get interesting come region tournament time.
“The region could be up for grabs,” Gilmore said.
