Nettes Fight Tough Battle, Get Torched at Buzzer.

The Pickens Dragonettes faced off against the Northwest Whitfield Lady Bruins Friday night in the semifinals of the Region 7AAAA Basketball Tournament. After a back and forth game, the Nettes lost at the last second, 54-52.To start the game, Pickens won the tip and wasted no time working the ball down to their post, Sarah Smith who got an easy basket. Northwest answered with a two of their own followed by two three-pointers, one of which was the old fashioned way. At the 3:31 mark, the score was 16-6 after another old-fashioned three-pointer for the Lady Bruins. A pair of Nettes three’s by Kadie Mullinax and Haley Kalson near the end of the quarter cut into the lead, but the Lady Bruins were still up by seven, 19-12.

The 2nd quarter started with points by NW Whitfield. Another Kalson three-pointer was made less than a minute in forcing a timeout by the Lady Bruin coach. Pickens gathered three offensive rebounds on one possession off of a missed free throw before Danielle Goss was able to put it in. After another Smith basket cut the lead to 25-19, Pickens was finally able to run some plays. The versatile Goss was able to work the ball inside again to pull within four. After trading free throws, Smith draws a foul while Pickens is in the bonus. She nails both free throws to make the score 26-24. A three by NW Whitfield and an “and one” by Goss closes out the quarter with a score of 29-27.

The 3rd quarter begins with a left hand turn-around hook shot by Smith to open the scoring for the Nettes. The oft-mentioned “and one” happened again for Smith, and she hit the free throw to give Pickens their first lead since the 6:16 mark in the 1st quarter. The scoring for the rest of the quarter was back and forth for the two teams, highlighted by a deep three-pointer to tie the game by Mullinax, and a Kalson two-pointer that found the bottom of the net just as time expired. The Dragonettes were on top after the 3rd quarter, 42-40.

Pickens has another hot start to begin the 4th quarter, when Olivia LeMieux hits a three-pointer. Turnovers quickly become a problem for the Nettes, as they find themselves trailing 46-45 after giving up fast break points. The Nettes went back ahead on a Goss basket. Northwest answered with five straight points to go ahead by four. A Mullinax three cut the lead to 51-50. PHS worked the ball down low to Smith who looked for a foul as she fell to the ground, but nothing was called. After a free throw by the Lady Bruins, Mulinax hits a runner with 6.4 seconds left to tie the game at 52 points each. A Pickens timeout was called to set up the full court press in an attempt to keep the Lady Bruins from getting a shot off. Things did not go as planned though, as they were able to break the press and hit a buzzer beating layup to win the game 54-52.

Pickens will attempt to capture the #3 seed in the region as they take on Dalton at 3:00 on Saturday at Dalton High School.