Most of the Forsyth County schools have experienced difficulties on the basketball floor this season. However, in recent games, the West Forsyth and Lambert boys teams more than held their own against Region 7B-AAA-leading Gainesville. As you may recall, Gainesville made it to the state semifinals last year and, despite two one-point losses in region play this season, the Red Elephants find themselves in prime position to make the state tournament once again. However, the team has been susceptible to letdown losses this season as they fell to Flowery Branch earlier in the season as well as to some middling teams from higher classifications. Those types of performances were surely on the minds of the West Forsyth players as they had the Red Elephants on the ropes for three quarters of their matchup, but could not deliver the knockout shot as Gainesville won 52-43. Fineto Lunguana scored 15 points and Shaeem McLaren tallied 12 to lead the Wolverines. Blake Sims led Gainesville with 16 points. In the last game of the regular season, however, Lambert shocked the Red Elephants with a 60-59 upset win to get to six total victories on the year.
Etowah became the latest team to succumb to the McEachern Indians, losing 67-58 on Monday night in a weather-delayed game from Friday. Trae Golden provided a big spark for the Indians as usual, scoring a game-high 30 points, while hitting crucial buckets throughout the second half. Alex Garay led Etowah with 17 points. As far as region tournament implications are concerned, Etowah finished the regular season tied for second with Woodstock and South Cobb, despite having a worse regular season record overall. McEachern, for the second year in a row, swept region play and looks to make more of a dent in postseason competition this year, as they were eliminated in the first round by Walton in an 87-80 scoring fest last season.
A week ago, it seemed as though Woodstock might have the best opportunity to finish out the season alone in second place in Region 5-AAAAA. However, a Tuesday night 65-64 overtime loss to Marietta left the Wolverines wanting to simply finish out the season with a victory to keep pace with Etowah and South Cobb. The team did just that, finishing on a winning note by beating Kennesaw Mountain 65-61.
ON THE GIRLS SIDE …
The Etowah girls basketball team won its season finale over McEachern, 59-48. The win should be a great boost of confidence entering region tournament play. The Lady Eagles got solid production out of the guard position as Stephanie Huffman led the team with 15 points and Brooke Salet contributed 13. Moniqua Darby scored 17 for McEachern. The team still has a tough road ahead, but with two wins in the region tournament starting Friday, the team could find itself sneaking into the state tournament.
Even though Friday night’s game with region-leading Chamblee was postponed, the Forsyth Central girls basketball team ultimately won the game that mattered, beating Marist for the second time this season, 43-41. The win locks the Lady Bulldogs into the No. 2 seed with the region competition just around the corner. Sophomore Kayla Richards led the way, scoring 14 points while Keeley Chester added 10. Though it was a thrilling two-point finish, Central surrendered a 15-point halftime lead, making it a close affair in the second half to the final buzzer. Central shot 6-of-12 from three-point range and needed every one of them as Marist shot 7-of-12 from the beyond the arc.
CHAMPIONSHIPS DELAYED …
While most of the state swimming events were postponed last week, the 5A preliminaries were completed on Feb. 11, setting up the field for the state finals competition this week (results were not available as of press time). Etowah seemed set to have one of its best finishes in the past four years, a stretch in which they have also won as many Cherokee County championships. One of the frontrunners for placing high in state was boys swimmer Alec Cohen. With his performance in the preliminaries, Cohen earned a No. 2 seed in 200 freestyle finals and a No. 5 seed in the 500 freestyle finals. The weather pushed back the 4A preliminaries, meaning Sequoyah star Taylor Roy did not swim at all the first week of the competition before the weather hit. Roy was one of the favorites to win the overall 500 freestyle and earned the No. 2 seed in the 200 freestyle.
Gupta can be reached at rgupta@scoreatl.com.
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