JACKSON County had subregion leader North Oconee on the ropes for two-and-a-half quarters Friday but fell 46-31 in this pivotal 8-AA matchup for the Lady Panthers.
Victoria Fontana and Macey Latty paced Jackson County with 10 points each in the upset bid.
“I thought the kids played really hard all night long,” coach John Hawley said. “They started to coming out and contesting us on the outside. We got the ball on the inside. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish the play. We had a lot of good shots on the inside. We just couldn’t finish.”
The Lady Panthers led 25-23 in the third quarter after Savannah Roncadori sank a pair of free throws at the 4:52 mark. Then a bad series of events unraveled for Jackson County.
The Lady Titans (16-3, 7-0) hit a three-pointer to take the lead. Then, North Oconee picked up its next bucket with a simple put back off a missed free throw, followed by a Jackson County turnover. North Oconee answered with another basket to lead 30-25. The Lady Titans ended the quarter on a 6-1 spurt to run its lead out to 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Panthers never got closer than seven points in the final period, and North Oconee scored the last eight points of the ball game.
The loss was costly as Jackson County entered the contest in a three-way tie for second-place in Region 8-AA South.
“I’m really happy where the kids are,” Hawley said. “They played hard. They’ve just got to continue to stay focused. No complaints. Just keep getting after it.”
