Sports
One and Done: Westlake Girls Ousted From State Playoffs
Turnovers plague Lady Lions in first-round home loss to McEachern.
The GHSA AAAAA State playoffs have been described in a number of different ways: competitive, nerve-racking and exciting are some terms that come to mind.
But most of all, they are unforgiving: it’s win or go home, and the 2nd-seeded Westlake Lady Lions learned that lesson the hard way Friday night.
The visiting 3rd-seeded McEachern Indians (13-5) bounced Westlake (21-7) in the first round of the playoffs on the Lions’ home court in decisive fashion, earning a 66-53 victory and a trip to the second round of the girls state playoffs.
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For Westlake junior guard Aisha Turner, Friday night’s loss was a hard pill to swallow.
“I just feel like they totally out-hustled us and we just didn’t come ready to play,” said Turner, who contributed a team-high 13 points in Friday’s loss.
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It certainly did seem like the Lions were lackadaisical early in the contest, especially on offense.
Westlake committed seven turnovers in the first quarter alone, but only trailed by a score of 14-11 entering the second period of play.
The Indians however, never took their foot off the gas, suffocating the Lions’ offensive sets with an unrelenting full court press from the second period on, generating turnover after turnover en route to a 28-21 halftime lead.
“We had some mental lapses early and made a run at them but just couldn’t close the gap and still had some mental mistakes down the stretch,” said Westlake head coach Hilda Hankerson. “You know, their team came ready to play quicker than we did. We kind of woke up late and couldn’t overcome various obstacles.”
The Lions clawed their way back into the contest in the second half thanks to Turner, who scored nine points including two 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, and senior forward Ashley Johnson, who matched Turner’s team-high 13 points for the game.
The Lions cut the Indians’ lead to 46-41 with 5:37 remaining in the fourth quarter and appeared ready to pounce. However, the Indians fought off the late Westlake charge with solid free throw shooting and stretched their lead to 13 before the final buzzer sounded.
It was a disappointing loss for the region 2-AAAAA runners-up, who had lost just three times all year at home prior to Friday night.
The result was particularly disheartening for the six seniors on Westlake’s squad, who struggling to cope with the harsh reality that they had just played their final high school basketball game.
“It’s hard but everybody wins some and everybody loses some, so I’ve just got to keep on working hard to get to the next level,” said Johnson.