Down by six points with less than three minutes to play, the Rome Lady Wolves stepped up their defensive pressure and Pinky Nation and Breana Griffin hit clutch shots to rally the Wolves to a 60-59 win over Cambridge in the opening round of the Class 6A State Basketball Playoffs Wednesday night at Rome.
Nation, who scored her 1,000th point for Rome High a couple of weeks ago, drove inside the lane and swished a solid two-pointer fighting off blows to her body to cut Cambridge’s lead to 56-52.
Rome’s defense came up with a steal on the ensuing possession and this time Nation got free outside the three-point arc and buried one of her long, trademark three pointers to pull the Wolves to within one at 56-55 with 2:05 to play.
The Wolves forced another turnover but couldn’t get the points, and Cambridge’s Jordan Dudley drove to the basket and scored, upping the Bears’ lead to 58-55 with 1:07 left to play.
Griffin, playing with four fouls, cut to the basket with the ball, scored the basket and drew the foul, cutting the lead to 58-57. The ensuing free throw bounced away, and the Bears corralled the rebound. Rome’s defense started fouling and eventually put the Bears’ Ella Lewis on the line. She missed both free throws only for the Bears to snag the rebound. Lewis got fouled again and sank one shot, upping the lead to 59-57 with 21 seconds left.
The Wolves never faltered though running their offensive set before Griffin again got the ball and drove to the basket. Fighting through bodies and fouls, she scored and drew another foul. This time however Griffin drained the free throw, giving the Wolves the lead for the first time in the fourth quarter at 60-59.
Rome’s defense then forced a turnover and after an in-bounds play managed to run out the clock to preserve the victory.
“Breana Griffin was big, and Pinky hit a big three down the stretch that got us back in and closed the distance. We just fought hard the last few minutes,” Rome High coach Thomas McAboy said. “Breana made some big plays. She got the call and went to the free throw line and knocked down the free throw. She had missed one earlier. That’s a sign of a winner to come back and make that next free throw.”
“I told the girls this is how it’s supposed to be in the state playoffs,” Mcboy continued. “They're only 32 teams and after tonight only 16 are left. This is how it’s supposed to be. “The difference for us in this game was our seniors and their experience.”
Griffin led Rome with 18 points. Adams added 14 and Nation dished in 11 for the Wolves, but the Wolves had key moments and contributions from players up and down the roster in the win.
“I’m very proud of the girls. They’ve been to at least the second round every year they’ve played here, and I didn’t want to be here and be one and done. They are back to where they are accustomed to being,” McAboy said.
The Wolves (21-4) advance to the second round of the Class 6A State Playoffs on Friday where they will travel to play Grovetown (22-6) near Augusta. Grovetown topped Northside on Tuesday night in the opening round of the playoffs, 58-37, to advance.
When asked what it would take for Rome to beat Grovetown, McAboy spoke up with certainty.
“We’re going to have to be tough. They are very athletic,” he said. “It’s going to take us playing hard like we did tonight, but we are going to need to rebound better.”
And as for the toughness goes, after digging so deep to rally for Wednesday’s win, the Wolves showed that their mettle and toughness is more than ready for the next opponent.