Lady Cats Topple Lady Ramblers

The indoor version of Friday night lights took place at LaFayette High School as the Lady Cats pounced on the floor and clawed their way to a big region victory.  Needing the win to hold the #2 spot, the girls showed they are a team to be reckoned with.

The Gilmer Lady Cats came out ready for what the Lady Ramblers would bring.  Both teams fought hard throughout the four periods of play. as the first period came to a close, the Lady Cats held a narrow 3 point lead over LaFayette at 10-7. Hope Colwell and MaryLee Callihan combined to put up 9 of the 10 points for Gilmer.  Continuing the hustle from period one, Coach Nunn had her girls focused on defense to hold their opponent’s scoring to a minimum.  The LaFayette girls found a rhythm and a game plan in the second and edged Gilmer out Gilmer 15-10 to take a slim 2 point lead heading into the halftime intermission.  The second period scoring for Gilmer came from the hands of Bailey Teague with 4 points and Emma Deyton, Emma Callihan, and Elly Callihan each had 2 points each.

As the second half started, the Lady Cats once again cranked up their defensive prowess allowing the Lady Ramblers just 5 third period points.  While keeping the home team off the board, Gilmer’s girls opened the scoring gates.  With input from the Callihan sisters, Bailey Teague, and Mallory Kiser, the Lady Cats went on a 21-5 run and stretched out a 41-27 lead as the buzzer sounded to end the third period of play.  Heating up in the final period, the LaFayette Lady Ramblers battled back to the last second. Latyah Reece almost single-handily brought her team back within striking distance of the Lady Cats. Reece scored 17 in the period but the Gilmer girls held on in the end for a 56-54 win.  Leading the scoring for the Lady Cats was Elly Callihan with 14 followed by Bailey Teague(11), Mallory Kiser(8) and Emma Callihan had 7 on the night.  Gilmer will travel to Lumpkin on Saturday afternoon for a non-region game before they travel to Northwest Whitfield on Tuesday.  Tuesday’s game will be the final of the 2018-2019 season and set the seeds for the postseason tournament.