Nettes advance to the Elite 8, defeat North Oconee

Pickens County, Ga — The Pickens Dragonettes (22-4) welcomed the #3 seed out of region 8, the North Oconee Lady Titans (16-10) to the Dragons Den on Friday, February 26th for a sweet sixteen battle in the GHSA 4A Girls State Basketball Tournament. The Nettes, avoided the upset bid against Stephenson on Tuesday, while the Lady Titans went to Mt. Zion in Jonesboro and defeated them 63-31 on Wednesday. In front of another big time crowd, the Nettes used a strong fourth quarter and some late free throws to defeat the Lady Titans 61-51.

In the first quarter, the Nettes got off to a quick 6-0 start early on. After an early timeout by North Oconee, the Lady Titans went on a 4-0 run to make it 6-4. Pickens, went on to outscore the Lady Titans 8-1 for the rest of the quarter to take a 14-5 lead going to the second.

Nettes allowed 5 points in the first

The second quarter saw the offense come to life a bit for the visiting Lady Titans. Just before the end of the half, the ball game was tied up at 24 a piece. Kealy Hillhouse, was set up on the right side corner pocket and drilled a three to give the Nettes a 27-24 lead going into the break.

Nettes moving the ball in the second

The third quarter saw a back and forth scoring affair. Both teams were trading bucket for bucket. Though North Oconee outscored Pickens 15-13 in the quarter, the Nettes took a 40-39 lead into a crucial fourth quarter.

Nettes working hard defensively

In the fourth quarter, the Nettes once again came up big when needed getting critical stops on defense and turning them into scoring chances. Outscoring the Lady Titans 21-12 in the fourth, the Nettes sealed the win and their trip to the Elite 8 with a 61-51 win.

The Nettes will now move onto the Elite 8 where they will take on the #1 seed out of region 1, the Cairo Lady Syrupmakers. The GHSA, held the universal coin toss on Thursday night and determined that the bottom of the brackets will host the quarterfinal game if teams have like-minded seeds. That means, Pickens will be traveling nearly 5 hours south to take on Cairo on Tuesday. Time of the game has yet to be determined.

RJ Casey