Watson’s
two free throws with five seconds to play were the difference Tuesday
as the Panthers defeated Salem 31-29 in the Class AAAAA quarterfinals.
Region 4 champion Forest Park (27-4) will play in the state semifinals
for the third consecutive year and fifth time in six seasons, this
weekend against the winner of Sequoyah-Stephenson.
Salem
(22-9), which was appearing in the Elite 8 for the second consecutive
year, had pulled even at 29-29 when after a Forest Park offensive foul,
Shay Tarver drained a 3-pointer with 1:22 to play.
Forest
Park held for the last shot, but Watson was guarded by Tarver and was
hit with a five-second call and the Seminoles took over possession. They
gave it right back as Tarver tried to save an errant pass, but the ball
was stolen by Kanisha Tharpe. Tarver fouled Watson and the senior guard
hit the front end of the one-and-one, then the back end, and Tarver’s
desperation heave from about 35 feet away bounced off the rim as time
expired.
The
game was tied at 24-24 heading into the fourth before Alexius High hit a
3-pointer from the top of the key for Forest Park and Tarver answered
with a short jumper with 5:15 to play. The Panthers went ahead 29-26 on
Watson’s strong drive and lay-in with two and a half minutes to go.
Region
8 champion Salem, which had never been to the quarterfinals until last
season, finally grabbed what turned out to be its only lead of the night
when with 1:19 remaining in the third Ayanna Mitchell grabbed a loose
ball and hit a bucket to put the Seminoles up 24-23. That was the only
field goal for the LSU-bound Mitchell, who finished with just three
points.
Makayla
Whitfield had four easy lay-ups for all eight of her points, including a
pair early in the third that allowed Salem to tie things up at 16-16.
Watson and Tharpe each scored five points in the quarter and Tharpes’
lay-up at the 2:40 mark handed Forest Park a 23-19 lead. Tarver was
fouled from behind the three-point line at the other end and knocked
down all three charity shots, which came a half-minute before Mitchell’s
bucket.
It
was a tale of two quarters during the opening half with Salem storming
back from an early deficit to make it a one-possession game at halftime.
Forest
Park built a 12-1 lead after one quarter, thanks to a Tamecia Blue
floater in the lane that the 5-5 guard got over the out-stretched arm of
the 5-10 Mitchell, and a pair of 3-pointers from High. The last three
came with 2:11 to play and gave the Panthers’ that 11-point cushion, but
it was the Clayton County school’s defense in the opening eight minutes
that was most impressive.
The
Panthers forced eight turnovers in the first, many from Tarver, who had
a bit of trouble getting the ball up the court, but also appeared to be
the victim of non-foul calls on a handful of possessions.
Tarver
took whatever frustrations she had out on the basket at the start of
the second quarter. She banked in a floater from the foul line for the
Conyers school’s first field goal of the night 12 seconds into the
period, then added a put back off a Paris Scott miss and a 3-pointer,
which pulled the Seminoles to within 14-8 midway through the period.
Tharpe
drained a jumper at the 6:53 mark that put the hosts up 14-3, but
Forest Park went scoreless for the remainder of the half. Whitfield hit
her first two lay-ups within the final two minutes of the half and Salem
trailed just 14-12 at the break.
Tarver,
an unsigned senior, led all scorers with 15 points. All but four of
Forest Park’s points came from the trio of Watson, Tharpe and High, who
scored nine each.
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