Veterans girls cruise to first-round win over Liberty County
Not all teams seeded fourth are the same, and Veterans head coach Nicki Miranda knew it.
A year ago, the Warhawks had to battle to beat fourth-seeded Bainbridge by four points in the first round of the GHSA Class AAAA girls playoffs, Bainbridge was a second-place team that fell to fourth in the region tournament.
But Liberty County was different, coming in at 7-15, as was the result.
Veterans got off to a slow start, but picked things up in a big way en route to a 67-37 win over the visiting Panthers in a first-round Class AAAA game Tuesday.
Senior Anna Nicholson had a career-high 25 points to lead Veterans, which improved to 24-4.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Kya Cochran: The senior ran the show and got the Warhawks' transition game going, which led to Veterans taking control. Cochran had seven points and six assists.
Nicholson: Normally a money 3-point shooter, Nicholson had only nine points off of two long-distance buckets and was 7-for-9 from the field on two-pointers.
Racquel James: The senior had five assists and three steals to go with three rebounds and six points.
WORTH NOTING
Veterans is balanced in pretty much all areas on average, including rebounding. Eight players had at least three rebounds Tuesday. The Warhawks also had 14 steals, getting three from four players.
THEY SAID IT
Miranda: "We got off to a little bit of a slow start. We had some wide open outside shots that didn't fall early, but we were able to pressure them, get out in transition, got a lot easy transition buckets early on. Then we started going inside, going inside out and then we started raining 3s."
Miranda on a good thing from the game: "(Liberty County) was very physical. That was helpful. Probably a little too physical. It made my post players and my guards be really aggressive. I think (next-round opponent) Redan is going to be super physical and athletic."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Veterans will host Redan, a 61-54 winner over Southeast Whitfield, at 6 p.m. (tentatively) on Friday.
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Veterans girls cruise to first-round win over Liberty County ."