Morning scores 30 as Lady Colonels reach championship game

It might be an understatement to say Cass senior guard Jana Morning has enjoyed the Lady Colonels' trip to the Chattooga Christmas Classic through two rounds. The Lady Colonels' leading scorer poured in 30 points Thursday evening to lead the Cass Lady Colonels into the Championship Game of the tournament at Chattooga High School in Summerville as Cass rallied for a 63-60 win over Southeast Whitfield.

The Lady Colonels will play the survivor of a Thursday night semifinal game between Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Ridgeland at 7pm Friday night -- again at Chattooga High School.

Morning's 30-point production comes on the heals of a 20-point performance in her team's first round win Wednesday.

In the victory over Southeast Whitfield, the Lady Colonels were outscored 15-7 in the second quarter and trailed 27-19 at the intermission.

Cass then battled back in the third quarter to narrow the Lady Raiders' lead to one, 46-45, but trailed by three points with just under three minutes remaining in the game. The Lady Colonels took a one-point lead at 60-59 in the final 1:20 and then held off the Raiders down the stretch for a three-point decision.

Maddie Pearson and Emily Early scored 24 and 20 points, respectively, for Southeast Whitfield. In addition to Morning's performance, Kyla Michienzi totaled 13 for Cass. Esmeralda Thomas contributed seven points, followed by Chanel Clemmons with six, Payton Stoddard with five, and Lyric Curtis with two points. Clemmons added ten rebounds.

The Lady Raiders fell to 9-4 on the year with the loss and will play for third place on Friday. The Lady Colonels, who defeated Cartersville 50-35 in the first round of this tournament on Wednesday, improved to 8-3 and have now won six of their last seven games.