Lassiter girls fall on Blessed Trinity buzzer-beater
Feb. 15—ROSWELL — Julia Geis banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Blessed Trinity girls to a 46-44 victory over Lassiter in the semifinals of the Region 7AAAAAA tournament Tuesday at Roswell High School.
The last shot completed a comeback that saw the Titans (18-9) outscore the Trojans 15-3 in the fourth quarter.
The win sent Blessed Trinity to the region title game, where it will face Sprayberry (18-9) on Friday. Lassiter (20-5) will face Pope in the third-place game.
The Trojans led by seven points with 4:30 to play, but the Titans, who were kept at bay nearly the entire game, finally got back within two possession when Christa Lair, who scored a game-high 12 points, was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. Lair made all three free throws to cut the Lassiter lead to 42-38.
Neither team could make a shot for nearly 4 minutes before Blessed Trinity's Emaline Rault, who finished with eight points, finally connected on a short jumper in the lane to cut the lead to two with 47.9 seconds to play. On the next trip down the floor, Addie Spak's 3-pointer from the corner gave the Titans their first lead of the game.
After being held without a field goal and to only one free throw in the fourth quarter, Ciara Branch converted on a layup to allow Lassiter to retake the lead with 15 seconds to play, setting up the final frantic moments that led to Geis' 3.
"We played hard for 31 minutes and 59 seconds," Lassiter coach Joannah Mackenny said. "We wanted it. We just let that last second go."
Mackenny said the goal was to win the region championship, but the fact the Trojans were at this point in the first place is a testament to what the program has become.
Two years ago, Lassiter was 2-20 and often lost by more than 40 points. Last year, it improved to 12-12. This year, it was 1 second short of playing for the region title.
"Hard work," Mackenny said. "It's the girls, the JV coaches, the assistant coaches. It's blood, sweat and tears to put Lassiter girls basketball back on the map.
"We turned the program around with skill, and now we have set a winning culture."
In the two previous meetings with Blessed Trinity, Lassiter had split, winning 36-35 on the road and falling 50-46 at home. A close game was expected, but by the way the Trojans started, it looked like they may run away and hide.
Lassiter opened the game by scoring the first nine points. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ryan Thames, who finished with eight points, pushed the lead to 15-4, but the Titans closed the gap to 18-11 by the end of the quarter.
Over the next two quarters, it seemed like every time Blessed Trinity tried to get close, Lassiter found a way to pull away again. Midway through the second quarter, the Titans closed the gap to one, but the Trojans answered with a 9-1 run to end the half with a 29-20 lead.
The advantage was 36-29 with 1:11 to play in the third quarter when freshman guard Sophie Hortman, who finished with eight points, connected on a 3-pointer and a layup to push the lead to its biggest mark at 41-29.
Branch led Lassiter with nine points, while Kenzie Wyman finished with seven.
