Madison County girls capture region title

By Dallas Bordon

The Madison County Lady Raiders are 2013 Region 8-AAAA champions.

The Lady Raiders (20-8) defeated Chestatee 54-26 Friday night to complete the sweep of the region tournament held at Johnson High School in Gainesville.

Elise Coberly led the scoring for Madison County with 15 points followed by 14 from Mya Moss.

“This is just awesome!” said Coberly. “This is what we wanted and we got it; the hard work paid off.”

Madison County played what was perhaps their best basketball of the season in the tournament. The Lady Raiders defeated Monroe 60-28 to open the tournament and then reached the championship game by ousting Stephens County 51-37 on Thursday night.

The Lady Raiders held Chestatee to just two first quarter points on the way to a commanding 24-11 halftime lead.

Chestatee didn’t connect on a single field goal until 1:08 was left in the first half.

“Last time we played them they scored often on turnovers and inbound passes,” said Coach Dan Lampe. “Tonight we stopped their inbound passes and put-backs.”

Lampe’s most recent region title came in 2010. Prior to that year, the Raiders won the prize in 2007 and 2009 and finished as runner-up in 2008.

The Lady Raiders slammed the door Chestatee by holding the Lady War Eagles to just four fourth quarter points. Chestatee threw in the towel with 2:00 minutes remaining by holding the ball at mid-court deciding not to run a play while allowing the clock to reach zero.

“We had one goal to achieve and one trophy to receive and we did it,” said senior Macy Rutledge who contributed with two three pointers in the third quarter.

Madison County will now host the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday night at the Madison County Middle School. The time and opponent is yet to be determined.

The Madison County boys’ team finished fourth in the region tournament, dropping the consolation game 67-61 to Stephens County Friday after falling to Eastside 62-43 Thursday. They will play on the road in the first round of the state tournament Tuesday.

— See The Journal Facebook page for girls’ and boys’ photos from the region tournament