Lady Wolfpack hopes to win region championship

Greenbrier's road to its possible first region championship got a little bit easier after Friday's 50-45 win at Richmond Academy.

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The Lady Wolfpack clinched the No. 1 seed in the Region 3-AAAA Tournament with the five-point road victory. Even if Greenbrier somehow loses its final subregion game of the year against Lakeside today, the Lady Wolfpack holds a firm enough lead in the subregion standings to still keep the top seed.

Greenbrier girls basketball coach Garrett Black said he's glad to have that luxury.

"It's nice because we can kind of focus on who will be the four-seed on the other side," he said.

The fourth-seeded team from the south subregion will have to find a way to break Greenbrier's full-court pressure - something Richmond Academy could only do in the first quarter of Friday's game. The Lady Musketeers jumped out to a 10-4 lead because of a nine first-quarter points from center Kaylyn Small. After that, it was all Greenbrier business as usual.

The Lady Wolfpack ended the first quarter in an 11-11 tie thanks to five points in two minutes by senior guard Michelle Swiec. Greenbrier went on to outscore Richmond Academy 17-7 in the second quarter. The lead held for the rest of the game despite a Lady Musketeer rally late in the fourth quarter.

Latesha Jackson hit a 3-pointer in the corner with a minute to go to trim Greenbrier's lead to two points. After Lady Wolfpack free throws from Kaila Hunt and Swiec, Richmond Academy's Candace Ramsey made a lay-up to make it 47-45 with 34 seconds left. The Lady Musketeers failed to score again, and Greenbrier went on to claim the Region 3B-AAAA top seed.

Little celebration took place on the Lady Wolfpack bench after the game. Senior Tiffany Blackburn said there's more important business still left unfinished.

"I can definitely say winning region is our main focus," she said. "The seniors have had a taste the past three years."

The Lady Wolfpack have come close to region championships in the past including this season's subregion title and last year's second place finish, but they have never won a region tournament championship. The push to do so will begin next week with the first round of the region tournament. Greenbrier will play at home Feb. 13 or 14.

Until then, the Lady Wolfpack (24-0) will play host to Lakeside today to wrap up the regular season schedule. A win would give the girls their first undefeated regular season in school history.

Black said that although the perfect record is nice, it's not his team's main focus.

"Our seniors want to win a region championship," he said. "That's the No. 1 goal right now."