Veterans girls hold off Redan to reach quarterfinals

KATHLEEN -- With eight seniors back from a team that made it to the GHSA Class AAAA semifinals a year ago, it is almost expected for the Veterans girls basketball team to win games.

The Warhawks received a stern test from Redan on Friday night, but they found a way to advance to the quarterfinals with a 47-40 win. Kya Cochran scored 16 points and added six rebounds to lead the way.

Veterans never trailed, jumping to a 17-5 first quarter lead and then survived a poor shooting second quarter to still lead 25-14 at the half. Cochran scored 10 points in the half, which included a 6-for-6 performance from the free-throw line.

Redan turned up the pressure and slowly cut into Veterans lead. A Taylor Tucker 3-pointer cut the Veterans lead to six at 27-21 midway through the third quarter, but Veterans answered with a 7-0 run to make it 34-21. Redan slowly cut into the Veterans lead for the remainder of the game and cut the Warhawks' lead to 44-40 with 54 seconds left on a Tucker three-point play. But Veterans put the game away at the line, converting 3-of-6 free throws down the stretch.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Cochran: The shortest player on the court at 5-foot-2, the senior set the tone early and then converted 3-of-4 free throws in the final 1:13 to help the Warhawks hold on to the lead. Cochran, who entered the game averaging seven points per game, scored 16, including making 10-of-12 free throws.

Morgan Riley: The Veterans senior scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds and also had three blocked shots to lead the inside attack. She also hit a huge free throw with 50 seconds left in the game.

Tucker: The Redan senior scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

TURNING POINT

With Veterans clinging to a 44-40 lead with 50 seconds left, Riley got a kind bounce on a free throw but missed the second free throw. Ebony Allen, however, gave the Warhawks the hustle play they needed as she came up with the rebound, forcing Redan to foul again. Cochran sank another free throw to add to the Veterans lead.

OBSERVATIONS

Deep attack: Redan seemed perfectly content to shoot 3-pointers all night. It attempted 55 shots, and 26 of those were 3-point attempts. But Redan made only five.

THEY SAID IT

Veterans head coach Nicki Miranda on getting her 100th win: "I think the girls knew it before the game, and it's more important that I have got those wins with these girls. This really is not about me but giving these girls who work so hard another chance to get back to the Final Four."

Miranda on the dominant performance in the first quarter: "We came out with a lot of focus and intensity, and we were able to jump on them early. We had a few lulls on defense in the second quarter, but I really think that Redan picked it up and played much better after that."

Cochran on scoring 16 points: "We have a lot of people who can score, and it seems like someone different steps up every game. None of us are really worried who scores the points because we are focused on getting the win."

Cochran on playing her final game at Veterans: "It was very emotional before the game, but we all knew that we had to come out focused and get a win in our last home game."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Veterans faces Carrollton at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Fort Valley State.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Veterans girls hold off Redan to reach quarterfinals ."