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Bulloch Academy girls knocked out of state playoffs
Lady Gators fall to Brookstone, 46-43, in Macon
Gators
Brookstone celebrates its 46-43 win over Bulloch Academy in the GIAA state quarterfinals held Friday at First Presbyterian Day School in Macon. - photo by JOSH AUBREY/staff

The Bulloch Academy Lady Gators dreams of getting back to the state title game came to a close Friday night in Macon as Brookstone came from behind to knock off the Gators by a score of 46-43.

Poor free throw shooting hurt the Gators as did the Brookstone zone defense. The Gators were 10-22 from the free throw line and struggled to contain the Cougars leading scorer Taiylor Williams who was coming off an injury and scored 21 points to lead Brookwood.

“We hit only two outside shots the entire game,” said Gator coach Chandler Dennard. “When someone is playing a zone against you that is not the way to have success. We struggled from the line and in a game that is decided by only three points that will kill you. We fell asleep on defense in the second half and didn’t do what we did all season in order to get to this point and that is frustrating.”

As the No. 2 overall seed in the state tournament the Gators received a bye into the quarterfinals. Coach Chandler Dennard was concerned entering the region tournament that the Gators hadn’t played in almost two weeks. Bulloch Academy only had to play two games in order to win the region championship, and both were blowouts.

The Gators showed some signs of rust early on and actually trailed the entire half until with less than a minute to play in the half Armani Cook hit a baseline jumper for a 21-20 lead. Mary Mac Powell added a layup before the buzzer for a 23-20 Gator lead at the half.

The Gators led the entire second half until leading scorer Ashantay Noble fouled out with the Gators leading 42-41 with 2:34 to play in the game. Williams scored with 1:32 to play

to give the Cougars a 42-43 lead and they would hold that lead the rest of the game.

“We had them right where we wanted them in the second half as we were up by five and got six straight free throws. We only made two of them and again in a game like this you can’t do this. We didn’t play well, but give Brookstone credit they are a tough team and played well here tonight.”

Ashantay Noble led the Gators with 17 points and went over the 1,000-career point mark in the game. Armani Cooke had 16 points and was the only other Gators to score in double figures.

The loss finished the Bulloch Academy season at 22-7 overall.