Lady Canes fall in region finals OT thriller; Cass girls and Cartersville boys win third-place games
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February 21, 2026 Charles Wilson / BartowSportsZone.com
The Lady Canes battled Dalton into overtime on Friday night, but came up just short in the Region 7-AAAA championship game at The Storm Center.
Earlier on Friday, the Cass girls and the Cartersville boys won Region 7-AAAA tournament third-place games.
DALTON 68, CARTERSVILLE GIRLS 66 (ot)
The Lady Canes and Lady Catamounts split their regular-season games and tied in the Region 7-AAAA regular-season standings at 13-1. Both teams have been ranked in the Class AAAA top ten for most of the season, and Friday night’s region championship rubber game needed overtime to decide the title.
Dalton led 15-14 after one quarter, and the two teams went to the intermission deadlocked at 29-each. The Lady Canes surged to a 50-40 lead in the third quarter, but Dalton rallied in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime tied at 59.
In the overtime period, Georgia Sanders scored six of her 11 points, and Dalton escaped with a 68-66 victory.
Dalton’s junior point guard, Aubriyana Camp poured in a game-high 44 points to lead all scorers in the contest.
Trinity Montgomery led Cartersville with 26 points and added six rebounds. Zoe McCurry scored 19 points with four boards and four assists. Blakely Morris grabbed 11 rebounds and pitched in seven points. Kaitlyn Arnold collected seven rebounds and scored seven points.
Dalton (24-3) will host Maynard Jackson on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament.
Cartersville (21-5) will welcome Pace Academy to The Storm Center on Tuesday.
CASS GIRLS 45, HIRAM 36
The Cass Lady Colonels won the Region 7-AAAA tournament’s third-place game Friday evening at Cartersville High School, defeating Hiram 45-36.
Cass led 11-3 after the opening eight minutes, but the Lady Hornets cut their deficit to 21-18 at the intermission. Cass outscored Hiram 12-9 in the third quarter to lead 33-27, then held off the Hornets over the final eight minutes for a nine-point victory.
Nakayla Evans led Cass with 14 points. Yvonne Ellison scored 10, and Cadie Paez added eight points.
Brittain Payne led Hiram with 12 points. Taylor Gaddis contributed 10, and Adriana Howell added eight points.
Hiram (10-16) will be the No. 4 seed from Region 7-AAAA in the opening round of the state tournament on Tuesday and will play at Region 4-AAAA champion Creekside.
Cass (12-13) will be the No. 3 seed and play the Region 4-AAAA runner-up, Midtown, on Tuesday in Atlanta.
CARTERSVILLE BOYS 60, DALTON 29
The Purple Hurricanes outscored Dalton 37-14 in the second half on Friday evening en route to a 31-point win in the Region 7-AAAA third-place game at Cartersville’s Storm Center.
Following a 9-9 first period, the Canes carried a 23-15 lead to the halftime break. In the third quarter, Cartersville outscored the Catamounts 20-8 to take control.
Xavier Lowe paced Cartersville with 23 points. Wyatt Thomason finished with 16 points. Kyron McClendon scored 11 points and added eight rebounds and four steals. Nas Bennett contributed six rebounds, four points, four assists, and two steals.
Jermichael Craft led Dalton with eight points. Cole Laubscher added seven
Dalton (14-13) will open the state tournament on Wednesday at Pace Academy. Cartersville (21-6) visits Mays on Wednesday in the first round.
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