Lady Tigers to play for region title, Lady Chiefs and Fayette boys knocked to third place game

It was a special night for the Fayette County Lady Tigers, in more ways than one, but McIntosh’s girls and Fayette County’s boys would like to put it in the past.

The Lady Chiefs started the semifinal round with a 64-26 loss to Mays. McIntosh trailed 36-12 at the half and could not get close to the Lady Raiders. Gabby Seiler led McIntosh with six points.

Fayette County’s Lady Tigers faced off against Douglas County at 7 p.m. and won 54-51. Douglas County jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Fayette County stormed back to take a 27-15 lead at the half. Douglas County wasn’t done. They fought back to tie the game by the end of the third quarter (36-36) and weathered another Fayette rally near the end to draw within one possession.

“Early on, we started getting the ball inside and we got in a groove,” said Fayette head coach John Strickland. “We knew Douglas County would fight the entire way. It’s a four quarter game to get to the region championship and I asked my girls, ‘Do you want it?’”

The Lady Tigers responded and find themselves, yet again, in the region title game. Fayette County senior captains Anma Onyeuku (16 points) and Sasha Sims (20 points) both hit significant milestones in the win. Onyeuku, who entered the 1,000 point club in December, scored her 1,500th point in the win, while Sims entered the 1,000 point club.

Fayette County will take on Mays at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

They hope to get a better result than the Fayette boys did in their match with Mays. The boys led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and the second quarter saw five lead changes between the two squads with Mays leading 23-17 at the half. The Raiders stretched the lead to 10 points in the third quarter, but Fayette County fought back to tie the game 42-42 with four and a half minutes left. The Tigers had a five point lead with three minutes left to play, but Mays rallied and outscored the Tigers 9-1 in the closing minutes, hitting a game winning three at the buzzer to win 52-49.

Adam Smith led Fayette County with 24 points, while teammates Larry Erves chipped in 11 and Anthony Harper had nine.

McIntosh’s girls battle Douglas County for third place at 3 p.m. and Fayette’s boys meet Lithia Springs at 4:30 p.m. Banneker and Mays will play in the boys final, after the Fayette County girls game.