The Cherokee County Lady Warriors show who's No. 1 following their victory over Glencoe in the Cherokee County Girls Basketball Invitational title game.
Barnes and the Lady Warriors had never won a tournament of any kind – that is until Tuesday night against Class 3A, No. 2 Glencoe.
Behind a 19-point outing from Deidra Davis and a 14-point showing by Kaitlyn Griffith, Cherokee County was able to pull off a 42-38 win to capture the Cherokee County Girls Basketball Invitational title.
“It’s a great feeling to be the first to win an invitational in this (Gadsden State-Cherokee) arena,” Barnes said. “Our girls did a great job. They (Glencoe) were wearing us down, and they had a lot more subs than we did. They can run a lot of people in and put a lot of pressure on you. That’s how they win a lot, but all I can say is we showed a lot of heart and we handled it very well.”
Glencoe (12-2) decided to double Griffith and single cover Davis the majority of the game. However, the Lady Warriors (8-6) kept their composure and let their defense do the work.
They held their third straight opponent to under 40 points.
“Before the game, Coach Barnes told us to execute and box them out, get on them and don’t let them shoot. We did exactly what he told us to,” Griffith said. “We played awesome defense, and we played as a team. We showed a lot of heart tonight.”
Barnes said his team is “staying in defense a lot better lately.”
“Our goal is to hold teams under 40 points,” he said. “We think if we can hold them under 40, our offense can score 40. That’s what we’ve done the past three games in this tournament.”
Added Davis: “We’re starting to play more as a team. We can read what each other is doing and know what each other is about to do.”
Griffith added six steals, five rebounds and two assists to her 14-point outing. Davis also had a steal and an assist.
“I can’t say enough about Katy and Dee,” Barnes said. “They’re outstanding players, and they’re just sophomores. Our team feeds off of them. They just put us on their backs and say ‘Let’s go.’ That’s what they did today.”
Laura Rochester added five points and Lynden Curry contributed five boards, three steals and an assist.
Lindsey Tubb, Meagan Clark and Chelsi Matthews all had 10 points for the Lady Yellow Jackets.
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