Warner Robins girls fall in state basketball championship with 57-36 loss to Kell
Top-seeded Warnr Robins’ stellar season ended on a sour note Thursday night when the Demonettes lost the GHSA 5A girls basketball championship in a 57-36 blowout against Kell at the Macon Coliseum.
The win marked the first-ever championship for the Longhorns, who lost in the semifinals last year. It was just the fourth loss of the season for the Demonettes, who were also trying to bounce back from a semifinal loss last season with a title.
“We just didn’t come out to play tonight, but overall it was a great season,” said Warner Robins head coach Rebecca White. “I’m gonna go ahead and tell these girls they’ve got nothing to hold their heads about… I was proud of them before the game, and I’m still proud to be their coach.”
Warner Robins had their lowest point total all year in the title game, finishing with fewer than 40 points for the first time all season and scoring just five first-quarter points.
Kell’s all-time leading scorer and Region Player of the Year Crystal Henderson rained buckets on the Warner Robins defense, finishing with 29 points.
“They hit shots, we didn’t hit shots,” White said. “Some things we normally hit wasn’t falling, they were rolling around the rim. That was difficult for us.”
Warner Robins came into the game on a 12-game winning streak, and they had held the No. 1 rank in the state since January. The Longhorns were on a streak of their own, though, having won their last 13 games coming into the contest.
Both squads had Player of the Year award winners on their team, with the Demonettes’ Jada Morgan winning the honors in Region 2. Henderson lived up to the hype but Morgan was quiet, finishing with eight points in the loss.
As for the future, White acknowledged that some seniors were leaving, but also that they had a strong roster of underclassmen.
“(The seniors) set the expectation high. They let the young girls know what this atmosphere feels like, I let some sophomores play so they know what this atmosphere was like. But (the seniors) built the foundation,” White said. “The blessing is I have five sophomores and two juniors, I can promise you we’ll be back.”
The first quarter started slow, with both sides playing solid enough defense to keep the score low. Kell took advantage of fouls and turnovers as the game unfolded, hitting easy layups on fast breaks and sinking free throws to build up a 12-point lead early. The Longhorns led 17-5 headed into the second quarter.
A few short scoring runs by the Demonettes helped them cut into the lead, but Kell recovered near the end of the second quarter. Warner Robins just couldn’t score consistently, and the Longhorns took a 24-13 lead into the break.
The third quarter saw Kell pull even further away. A scoring run to start the quarter demoralized the Demonettes as they dug themselves into a 21-point hole. From that point the game felt out of reach and Warner Robins conceded what would end up being a lopsided loss.
