Gutsy Performance Gets Lady Royals the Win
Thursday-Imagine this; you are on a team full of underclassmen, literally…as in two of the starters are not in high school yet. Next, imagine you are playing in your first playoff game, as many of these Lady Royals were. Now imagine the team that you are hosting is the fifth ranked team in the state of Florida and has already won 21 times this season. Does all this seem too daunting of a task? Don’t tell these Jay Lady Royals (19-3) that. In front of a packed John C. Smith Gymnasium, the Lady Royals fought and clawed to get a gutsy, 49-28 victory in the regional semi-finals.
Chipley (21-7) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and seemed to rattle Jay to start the game, but three monster 3’s, two by 8th grader Presley Hawthorne and one by Carleigh Baker in the first quarter settled the nerves of the Lady Royals and they quickly began to not only handle Chipley’s full-court pressure, but benefit by beating it and getting transition lay-ups.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jay would only allow two points in the final seven minutes of the first quarter, to take a 15-6 lead.
Knowing that Chipley could score in a hurry, head coach Jorey Diamond preached defense this week to his group, demanding that his team stay in position and help when needed.
“What a team performance,” head coach Jorey Diamond said after the game. “Love the effort.”
That effort would pay off for the Royals as Chipley could only muster four points in the entire second quarter.
Chipley would hit a three early in the third, but again, Jay’s tenacious defense overwhelmed the visiting Tigers as the Lady Royals never allowed Chipley much room inside. Much of that was in part due to Maddie Grimes.
Maddie Grimes played great,” Diamond stated. “Her presence was huge in the paint.” Grimes would finish the night with nine points.
Jay would take a 36-15 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Now the Lady Royals will turn their attention to Ponce de Leon in the regional championship.
CHS-6 4 5 14-29
JHS-15 10 11 11-48
(A. Nelson 8, P. Hawthorne 9, C. Baker 9, J. Routley 2, G. Lewis 3, H. Locklin 2, K. Gilbreath 3, M. Grimes 9)
