Columbia’s Londyn Durden moves on offense during first half action of the Eagles 61-40 Class 2A girls’ state basketball playoff win on Friday. Durden led all scorers with 20 points in the game. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Defense propelled the Columbia Lady Eagles into the Class 2A girls’ state playoffs quarterfinals with a 61-40 win over the Appling County Pirates on Friday night at Columbia.
Columbia’ press forced 28 turnovers while also holding the Pirates to 11 of 46 shooting from the field to aid the Eagles in pulling away from a 13-13 tie with 2:26 to play in the first quarter to a 21-point victory.
An 11-0 run from that point into the second quarter put the Eagles up 24-13 and the Pirates (19-9) never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
London Durden had five points in the 11-0 run including a steal for the 11-points lead with 6:10 to play in the first half. Aalon Turner added four points and Kerserlin Anderson added another basket in the run.
After Appling’s Kaniyah White hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to nine, Kendall Campbell scored back-to-back baskets to make it 28-15.
Taylor Moss hit a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds left in the half to push the advantage to 34-19.
Turner and Durden both scored four points early in the third period to push the lead to 44-22 with 2:18 to play in the quarter. Asssata McIntyre added a three-pointer before White hit two more free throws along with Perri Mitchell and Columbia took a 47-29 lead into the final quarter.
Kerserlin Anderson’s basket with 1:41 to play gave Columbia its largest lead of the game at 23 points (53-36).
Durden finished the night with a game-high 20 points to with five rebounds to lead the Eagles (23-5). Turner, who went over 1,000 points earlier this season, finished the night with 18 points and nine rebounds and Kendall Campbell hit for eight points and grabbed nine boards.
Kaniyah White led Appling with 19 points (6 rebounds) with Perri Mitchel adding seven points and 10 rebounds. Makayla Williams grabbed 11 rebounds for the Pirates.
Columbia goes on the road in the Elite Eight with a trip to Columbus to take on the Hardaway Hawks (23-6) on Tuesday. The game time has yet to be set.
DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFF RESULTS
Friday, Feb. 21
GIRLS
CLASS 2A QUARTERFINAL
Columbia (23-5) 61, Appling Co. (19-9) 40
DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 22
BOYS
CLASS 4A QUARTERFINAL
SW DeKalb (26-3) at McDonough (23-5), 4:30 pm
East Forsyth (18-11) at Tucker (23-6), 4:00 pm
CLASS 3A QUARTERFINAL
Luella (18-9) at Cedar Grove (25-3), 5:00 pm
CLASS 2A QUARTERFINAL
Columbia (24-4) at Butler (17-8), 3:00 pm
DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Feb. 25
Columbia (23-5) at Hardaway (23-6), TBA