Troup uses ‘best effort’ to beat Carver girls basketball, advance to state championship
It might be time to start taking this Troup girls basketball team seriously, especially after what it just did to the defending GHSA Class 4A state champions.
The Tigers are deep, can score from anywhere on the court and handled Carver’s full-court press easily. Carver (25-5) certainly missed star player Olivia Cochran, who was sidelined after picking up two technicals in the Tigers’ Elite 8 win over Woodward, but her inclusion to the team likely would not have made a much of a difference. Once Troup got rolling, the result was never in doubt.
Carver was soundly beaten by a better Troup team, 56-47, falling just short of a second consecutive state championship appearance. For Troup, its breakout season lives on for another week, and the Tigers will face the winner of Americus-Sumter and Luella at the Macon Centerplex at 11 a.m. EST on March 6.
“We had a great season, great bunch of girls,” Carver coach Anson Hundley said. “... Trust me, we’ll be right back in this same building next year.”
YOUNG TIGERS STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP
Carver boasted only two seniors, one of whom (Cochran) was sidelined against Troup.
That meant more minutes for the lesser-experienced girls, who struggled to consistently make shots. Carver missed “around 25” layups, according to its coach, and also struggled at the free-throw line — the polar opposite of what happened on Tuesday, when the teams’ free-throw shooting ultimately carried it through.
“We got put in a situation where we had to play a lot of young girls that weren’t as experienced,” Hundley said. “It was a learning experience for them.”
There might be a silver lining, though: Friday’s loss gave the Tigers a taste of what life after Cochran might be like. The Tigers return 13 players from this season’s team, and Hundley expects them to be right back in the state-title conversation next year.
TROUP’S MAGICAL SEASON CONTINUES
Troup just keeps winning. The Tigers reached their first state championship game Friday, and they only need one more to win their first title in program history.
The Tigers can score from all across the floor, too, as they showed against Carver.
Freshman Alexcia Murphy led the Tigers with 15 points, and sophomore Aniya Palmer added 13 points.
Troup lost just one game this season and went undefeated in the regular season. Its only loss was against Sandy Creek in the second round of the region tournament. The Tigers will likely play Americus-Sumter — a team ranked No. 14 in Georgia (according to MaxPreps) that fell to Carver in the Region 1-4A tournament
“It’s unfortunate what happened to (Cochran), but they still have a great team,” Troup coach Carla Thornton said. “So we knew we’d have to be at our best effort to beat them.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 5:02 PM.
