With the score tied at 45, the buzzer sounded, and the crowd held its collective breath as the ball arced toward the basket.
It bounced twice off the rim, then circled once, twice, three times, before falling through the net to deliver a 47-45 region playoff win to Central Fellowship Christian Academy over the Lady Gators of Gatewood.
While the Lady Lancers danced in jubilation beneath the basket, the young Lady Gators walked slowly back to their bench, their faces covered by hands or jerseys pulled high to hide tears and mask their disappointment.
But Gatewood coach Ferdinand Farley didn’t see things quite the same way last Thursday at Windsor Academy in Macon.
“Man, the girls, they played great today,” Farley said not long after. “I’m so proud of them. I really enjoyed seeing them grow this year. And now we’re moving on to state. So, hopefully, we can continue to just get better and try to focus for next week.”
Proving his point, the Gatewood girls led 11-8 after the first quarter, 22-12 at halftime, and 34-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
But 8th grader Maleyah Hines stepped up with 17 of CFCA’s 19 points in the final quarter, including the game-clinching basket. She finished the night credited with 32 of CFCA’s 47 points scored.
Regardless, the first-year head coach remained convinced of the value even a loss provided to his young team, which includes only one senior, Sarah Mansfield.
“Us being together this first year together, we’ve still got to learn and grow and just try to get better,” Farley said. “And I love to see their confidence coming in; they plan really, really well. So, I’m just pleased with that.
“We just got to clean up some of this mental stuff. But once we do that, we’re going to be fine. I tell the girls all the time, ‘We’re going to have to go through adversity in order for us to get stronger,’ you know what I'm saying? Grow in the right direction. So, we got to go through it and I'm glad it is happening to them now because they actually can see that they can do it.”
The loss set up a Friday game between Thursday’s runners-up. The Lady Gators returned to Macon to take on the Lady Crusaders of Trinity Christian from Dublin. The game did not go well, as Trinity defeated Gatewood 57-15.
Still, Farley took a thoughtful stance, pointing out that his players seemed mentally and emotionally drained from the previous night’s disappointment.
“We just really weren’t locked in like we should have been. But I was still pleased with the effort. We just couldn't get anything going for us shot-wise,” he said. “And I’ve got to give a good shout-out to Trinity and their coach. They were on fire and well prepared; we just didn’t have it in us.”
The Lady Gators (10-13, 4-4) had at least one more chance to prove their mettle this season as they traveled to Americus on Tuesday (past press time) to take on Southland Academy (11-13) in the opening round of state playoffs.
“Southland was ranked number eight, I think, just a little ahead of us, so it should be a pretty good, pretty even matchup,” Farley said. “The girls were all really locked in at practice (Monday), so I think we’ve got our mind back focused, and we’ll be ready.”