SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A playoff berth in the 3A girls basketball playoffs hung in the balance as Chapman collided with Woodruff in a tiebreaker contest on Friday evening. This marked the fourth time this season that these two clubs have played one another (two region games, one during Landrum’s Battle At The Border tournament).
The Lady Panthers took control early on in this one and pulled away for a wire-to-wire 67-49 victory over Woodruff at Broome High School, securing the second and final playoff spot from Region III-3A. Chapman’s defense set the tone to start off the contest, which uncorked an astounding 20-5 run that spanned the entire first quarter. “Our girls got off to a hot start,” Lady Panthers head coach Leslie Boyd said. “Defensively, we did a great job in the first quarter of limiting their shots and we were able to really capitalize on the other end of the floor.” Point guard Asia Anderson also provided a spark on the offensive end for Chapman, which featured a number of sharp passes to set up teammates for better shots. One teammate that benefited from the passing aspect was sophomore Clara Gramling, who knocked down a pair of triples to help maintain the double digit advantage. “She was open,” Anderson said with a grin. “I know that when I have a shooter (like Clara) open, I have to get the ball to her. We knew from the jump what the goal was. It was our teammates that made us better as a group today.” “We knew what we had to do,” Gramling added. “Asia was able to use her game and open it up for us on the offensive end. We came in here with the same mindset that we would’ve had if the game had been played on Thursday.” In the second half, Chapman built a lead over 20 points on a couple of occasions. Woodruff was able to cut the deficit down to 12 points late in the half, but couldn’t pull any closer. “We have been playing great team ball,” Boyd remarked. “At the start of region play, we hit a hump where we lost a couple in a row. We’ve been emphasizing that everybody can make an impact. Tonight, our sophomores did that, including Gabby Freire, who came in and hit two big time threes. It was an overall team effort tonight.” Anderson finished with a game-high 26 points for Chapman, followed by Gramling with 14, Caroline Garner with 10, and Krislyn Wilder with nine points. Brooke Bailey tallied a team-high 19 points for the Lady Wolverines. In the first round of the playoffs on Monday night, Chapman will travel to Blue Ridge, who won the Region II-3A tournament. The start time for that contest was TBA at the time that this article was published. -Justin Mathis Comments are closed.
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