Lady Colonels advance, Colonels ousted
The Cass Lady Colonels won their opening round game at the Region 7AAAAA playoffs and punched their ticket to the state playoffs.
The Cass boys team, however, lost to Paulding County in an opening round game at Kell High School.
CASS GIRLS 55, HIRAM 24
The Lady Colonels took care of business Tuesday night with a 55-24 defeat of Hiram in the first round of the Region 7AAAAA at Villa Rica High School.
With the win, Cass advances to the region semifinals Thursday at Villa Rica against either 2-seed Villa Rica or 7-seed Paulding County. Those two teams were playing Tuesday night.
The Lady Colonels led 13-6 after one quarter and held a 21-17 advantage at the half.
It was an explosive third quarter that made the difference as Cass extended the lead to 39-21 by outscoring the Lady Hornets 18-4 in the period.
Jana Morning and Chanel Clemmons led Cass in scoring with 18 and 15 points, respectively. Lyric Curtis scored seven points. Payton Stoddard, Sharia Wade, and Kyla Michienzi each added five points.
Hiram’s season ends with a 5-21 record.
Cass (19-6) is also guaranteed a spot in the Class AAAAA State Tournament for the first time since 2006. A win in Thursday’s region semifinals would secure a home game in the opening round of the state tournament.
PAULDING COUNTY BOYS 56, CASS 45
Slow starts at tournament time can be lethal and that was definitely the case for the Cass boys basketball team Tuesday night against Paulding County in the Region 7AAAAA tournament at Kell High School.
Paulding shutout the Colonels 12-0 in the first quarter and extended their lead to 25-10 by the intermission. Cass narrowed the difference to 32-23 entering the fourth quarter, but could not complete the comeback.
Cass got as close as three points during the fourth quarter, but Paulding responded by pushing their lead back out to ten points with 2:25 left and ultimately held on for an 11-point victory.
Ashton Burley led Cass with 10 points. Mark Chester finished with nine points. C.J. Bennett scored eight points. Ian Whittington added seven points and eight rebounds for the Colonels.
With the win, Paulding County (11-15) advances to the region semifinals Thursday at Villa Rica to play the Kell/East Paulding winner. The win also earns the Patriots a spot in the Class AAAAA State Tournament that begins the following week.
The Colonels season comes to a close with an 18-8 record.
