The regular season games were decided in the Lady Raiders ’ favor by a combined nine points . Tiftarea finally got their revenge in the region semifinals , winning 43-35 on essentially a home court for Southland , Georgia Southwestern .
Power rankings determined the state tournament brackets , with Deerfield , Southland and Tiftarea earning the top three seeds . After Tiftarea conquered yet another region foe in the quarterfinals , Terrell Academy , they had to face Southland again in the semis at West Georgia .
The Lady Panthers were up 13-7 at the quarter and 24-19 at intermission . A disastrous 3rd quarter gave Southland a 33-27 lead going into the 4th . That margin expanded to 37-30 with 5:26 left .
Amazingly , Southland did not score again . Digging deep , the rally began with Mullis . Strenth made it a one-possession game at 37-34 , then Bryan tied it when she was fouled on a drive to the hoop at 2:49 .
Mullis ’ turnaround shot put TA up 39-37 at 2:16 . Forcing a travel and shot clock violation against their opponents , they were still up in the last 10 seconds . Bryan came up with a crucial steal as the Lady Raiders were playing for the last shot . She was fouled and made both free throws to ice the win .
“ We worked too hard to come up empty ,” Flick said . Confidence was never lacking in the group , nor was their ability to create big moments . The softball team that went to the 2021 state finals lost only three games all season . It was Tiftarea ’ s first final in that sport since 2005 .
With so many graduating , Flick will have a completely fresh starting lineup .
Eighth grader Amelia Mercer was the top scoring non-senior , averaging 4 points per game , with a high of 18 against Valwood . Isabel Fernandez averaged 3 points per game . He will also have Elaine Mercer , Lexi Connell , Abbi Richter and Hannah Grace Murphy back from Lady Panthers with good varsity experience .
Fernandez , Richter , Elaine Mercer , Shelby Whitfield and Addison Jackson make up a group of juniors he said were hard workers . After that , Tiftarea gets young in a hurry . Connell shapes up to be the only rising junior .
He also liked what he saw in his youngest varsity players , such as Kate Phillips , and Kate Coogle .
Flick is trying to keep the pressure off . “ The biggest thing is getting them to understand [ the youth ] don ’ t need to be they ( seniors ) were . Because they were themselves and they were a lot different than other groups .”
Tiftarea seniors receive the state runner-up trophy at Mercer University ’ s Hawkins Arena .
MAY 2023 | TiftonScene 23