Mike Ridaught
There is a saying that to kill a snake you must cut off its head.
It’s a metaphor.
On Monday night at Bill Woods Court, it was also the game plan for the defending state champions.
After a pair of slow starts in the first half, top seed Hawthorne used a 12-0 spurt in the third quarter to pull away for a 55-42 win against No. 2 seed Madison County in a Class 1A-Region 3 Final and advance to next week’s final four.
Clinging to a three-point lead, 20-17, after 16 minutes of basketball, Hawthorne coach Cornelius Ingram challenged his team at the half, and the Lady Hornets (20-3) responded by turning to its defense.
Madison County leading scorer Janiyah McKnight entered the game averaging 25 points, including 20 in last week’s win against Newberry in the regional semifinals.
However, McKnight was plagued by foul trouble and picked up her third foul with 4:53 to play in the first half.
She was never a factor in the game thanks to two quick fouls in the third quarter.
Hawthorne junior De’Mya Adams, who only had six points at the half, used her defense to force an offensive charge by McKnight just 15 seconds into the second half.
Nine seconds later, McKnight reached in on Adams and picked up her fifth foul.
“We knew the game plan going in was to get her in foul trouble because she’s the main ball handler,” Adams said. “She had zero points at that time (half) so we knew she was going to put her head down and go to the basket.”
The senior exited the game with 7:36 remaining in the third quarter without a single point.
“We wanted that to be a part of our game plan,” Ingram said. “We watched film and we felt like they were very aggressive on defense. I told my girls, ‘we’re strong with the ball, we’ll probably get some of those calls.’ And #1 (senior Janiyah McKnight) being probably their best all-around player, it’s hard to do things when your best player is not in the game. Our girls executed the game plan.”
Adams scored a game-high 20 points and senior Ashlyn Coleman honored her late auntie by scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to send the Lady Hornets to their fifth state semifinal in the past six years.
“Ashlyn Coleman was amazing,” Ingram said. “In all of my years of coaching high school girls basketball, she’s probably been the one player that I’ve coached the hardest, probably her and maybe one other player. She takes it on the chin every single game.”
Her aunt, Rutha Mae Scott, passed away on Friday. Today would have been her birthday.
“Due to my auntie passing, I figured I should play for her and also not play selfish and play for my teammates because I really want it and I know they want it as well,” Coleman said. “Being a senior, I’ve got to step up and be a leader and a model.”
Coleman, who was 8-of-14 from the floor, got Hawthorne out of an early slump, scoring on a layup to break a 4:03 drought to start the game as the Lady Hornets fell behind 4-0 halfway through the opening period.
She scored 12 of her 17 points in the second half, including consecutive layups to help Hawthorne take an 18-point lead, 53-35, to put the game on ice.
“She ran the floor, she had some great rebounds, she had some great finishes in transit,” Ingram said. “I’m happy for her success because she lost her Auntie (on Friday).”
Adams (four rebounds, three assists, three steals) added 14 of her game-high 20 in the second half, including an and-one with 10 seconds to play in the third quarter for a 39-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Junior Jhalea Jackson was held to four points but she had a team-leading 12 rebounds and five assists.
Madison County junior Jaidyn Wesley led the Cowgirls (21-5), which had an 11-game winning streak snapped, with 17 points.
Wildwood will get a rematch with Hawthorne, who they lost to in last year’s 1A state championship game.
The Wildcats (19-3) advanced with a 66-24 win against Trenton (23-5) in the 1A-Region 4 Final and will face the Lady Hornets in the state semifinals at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Friday, March 1.
Hawthorne, which has won 17 in a row, is seeking to become the first area team to repeat in girls basketball since Keystone Heights won back-to-back in 1994 and 1995.
Girls Basketball
Monday, Feb. 19 results
1A-Region 3 Final
1 Hawthorne 55, 2 Madison County 42
1A-Region 4 Final
1 Wildwood 66, 3 Trenton 24
2A-Region 1 Semifinals1
North Florida Educational Institute (Jacksonville) 64, 4 Oak Hall 17
3A-Region 1 Semifinals
1 Providence (Jacksonville) 77, 4 P.K. Yonge 62
