It was an upset in every sense of the word as the number five ranked Madison County fell 49-47 to Apalachee Tuesday night. The Lady Red Raiders’ first sub-region loss came after a late game three-pointer pushed the Lady ‘Cats ahead with just under 10 seconds left.
Madison County, 7-1; 18-2, remains in a tie with Clarke Central, 7-1; 16-4, for dominance of the sub-region. Clarke Central defeated Winder-Barrow Tuesday night to remain a threat to the Lady Red Raiders. The win for Apalachee Tuesday night fortifies the Lady Wildcats’ position as the third-place seed in the sub-region.
At the half, Madison County held onto a 28-16 lead after a slow start. In the first period, battling the Apalachee defense bogged down the typical aggressive Lady Red Raider offense. An uncontested 12-point run for Madison County in the second period built up the lead before the break.
Apalachee rallied in the third period, outscoring Madison County 22-11 to cut the Lady Red Raider lead down to eight points.
Another surge in the final minutes of the quarter left Madison County holding precariously onto the 39-38 lead. The Lady Wildcats would battle to within one point each time Madison County pulled away in the final period, until finally pulling ahead and going on to win the upset.
Madison County’s reputation preceded them as Apalachee was on guard to keep an eye out for the Lady Red Raiders’ go-to post player, Kayla Freeman.
Even with the heavy defense centered on her, Freeman led all scorers with 24 points and added to her season growing record of double-doubles after pulling down 15 rebounds. Elizabeth Whieldon scored 10 points as Madison County’s second leading scorer.
The loss to Apalachee comes after the Lady Red Raiders had to test their endurance last Friday against the formidable Clarke Central.
The Lady Gladiators were expected to be difficult and didn’t disappoint as Madison County had to fight for the 55-51 overtime victory.
Clarke Central and Madison County are in a battle for the top spot in the 8-AAAA North, and the overtime win gives the Lady Red Raiders a slim advantage as the teams remain tied with seven wins each. Both teams face off again Feb. 11 at Madison County in what will be sure to be an absolute knockdown, drag-out event.
Down by seven going into the final period, Madison County held Clarke Central to six points in the last minutes of regulation. Freeman broke free of the defense and put up half of the team’s 13 points, including her second free throw to tie the game 45-45. With less than 30 seconds, remaining neither side could make a play to end the game, rolling on into overtime.
During the extra period, critical free throw shots proved the key to victory for Madison County.
Freeman led the Lady Red Raiders with 21 points, followed by Molly Glaze with 17. Glaze kept Madison County alive as Clarke Central went on early game runs, hitting her perimeter shots.
With the win over one tough opponent, and the loss to another, Madison County prepares to face Winder Barrow this week.
Winder-Barrow, 2-4; 7-12, has yet to defeat the Lady Red Raiders in the past nine meetings and Madison County will look to keep that streak alive as they host the Lady Bulldoggs Friday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Following the sub-region game with Winder-Barrow, Madison County will also host non-region opponent Buford Saturday.
Prior to the upset with Apalachee, Buford was the only team to defeat Madison County. Saturday’s game starts 4 p.m. at Madison County. Buford is 17-2 overall and on paper, matches up with the Lady Red Raiders, in face slightly averages more points per game. The Buford game is the final non-region of the season, leaving three sub-region games left for Madison County to complete next week.
