Ladies fall short against War Eagles
Questionable calls mar Union's hard fought effort
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Sarah Fulghum stays plastered to the ballhandler during the Lady Panthers final home game.

The Lady Panthers battled the Putnam County Lady War Eagles down to the wire last Wednesday, but in the end, Putnam picked up a 44-41 win in an outcome that appeared to be decided as much by poor officiating as it was by the other team's talent.

"We should have won," Head Coach Mike West said, explaining that one big missed call came at the end of the first half. "They hit a shot at the buzzer that shouldn't have counted. It should have been 19-15. It was after the buzzer but it did count." Having also seen the game first hand, one parent added, "It is tough to watch a game being taken away from your team by the officials."

The Lady Panthers trailed 14-11 after one quarter and 21- 15 after two. Three free throws made the difference in each of those first two quarters. "We made some adjustments at halftime and those adjustments worked, but they didn't work right off the bat because we turned it over," Coach West said.

The turnovers allowed the Lady War Eagles to push the score to 27-15 and the deficit faced by Union would eventually grow to 16 points. But the Lady Panthers began to battle back, and trailed 36-24 at the end of the third quarter. Union used a full court press to pick up turnovers despite a thin roster.

"We were playing with six kids," Coach West said. "I was really proud of the effort. We were hustling and didn't doubt ourselves. The girls still believed they could win and were still positive. I still thought we were going to win the game. I still thought we were going to find a way to pull it out."

Union used an 8-0 run to cut it to a four point game in the final period, before the scoring began to go back and forth for a while. Lauren Dyer scored two of her 19 points to cut it to a two point game, and the Lady Panthers regained possession with 27 seconds left and a chance to tie or win.

Coach West called timeout to set up the play. "We were going to go for the win," the coach said. "We were going to have Candace [Williams] shoot a three off a double screen. Kayla had already fouled out so if we go to overtime we're probably not going to win it and we were dead tired. It was like watching jello run around on the floor.

"They just played their hearts out and played so well. As a coach you always think your kids played hard and want to believe that your kids play harder than anyone else, but I'm telling you they played hard. They couldn't go anymore and they still [did]. During the timeouts they couldn't even breathe but then went back out there and hustled. It was great to see."

After the timeout Williams got off the three, but a Putnam player came diving out to block

the shot out of bounds. The Lady Panthers inbounded the ball to Dyer with 12 seconds left, but to everyone's amazement, the referee called walking.

"She didn't walk, but that's what the call was," Coach West said. The Lady Panthers then picked up a technical foul, which appeared to seal the game. Fortunately for Union, the girl missed both technical free throws. Union fouled them with 5.3 seconds and the girl missed both free throws once again, but the Lady War Eagles got the rebound.

Although the girl missed the second shot from the stripe, leaving the Lady Panthers with a chance to throw up a hope and a prayer, Putnam defended well and Union was unable to get off a last second shot. Dyer's 19 points led the team in her final game.

Looking back

The last three weeks of the season the team beat everyone except the three top-tier teams they faced: Fannin, Rabun, and Putnam. "From where we were, having lost six out of seven games [in the middle of the season, after a 4-4 start], we had a team meeting," Coach West said. "We decided to get rid of the drama and just start over. From that point on we only lost to Rabun, Fannin, and Putnam, and lets face it, [those teams] are better than us. But I was proud of where we ended up and I hope we can continue that momentum next year."

Looking ahead

The good news for the Lady Panthers is that they only lose one senior, Lauren Dyer. The bad news is just how much they are losing in her departure. "We're not going to be able to replace what she gave us," Coach West said. "We have to replace our number two scorer, our second best three-point shooter, our leading rebounder, and the girl who throws the ball in, and don't underrate how important it is to have a girl that can throw the ball in. Lauren is a two-time All-Region player and she has a lot of heart. She plays through diabetes, highs and lows, sickness, [everything.] What she is able to do and the way she goes about it, you're not going to be able to replace that. She stepped up and became our leader and now we have to find a new one. I think we have a couple more good leaders though though. I think we are in good shape leadership wise."

The coach said that there are a few keys to next season, such as Sarah Fulghum developing as a three point shooter, Kayla Gowder working on her shooting percentage, and developing more depth. "We have to find and develop some depth," the coach said. "We're going to press the heck out of people next year. We will be a very quick pressing team, but we have to have depth to be able to do that."

But as for the starting five, that appears to be set. "We basically have a starting five coming back [even though they didn't start at the same time,]" the coach said. "I have had all five starters tell me how excited they are about basketball for next year. They're excited now and a lot of that is because we had fun. Its easy for me to have fun when I see what I saw at the end of the year. I'm looking forward to next year, I just wish Lauren had one more year."