North Paulding Gets Payback With Win Over McEachern, Wins Region Title
On Tuesday, the North Paulding Wolfpack girls basketball team headed over to face the McEachern Indians, who stood in the way of the Woldpack of claiming the Georgia High School Association Class 7A, Region 3 regular season championship. Add to the equation that the Wolfpack’s only region loss on the season came at the hands of the Indians just a couple of weeks ago, North Paulding had revenge on their mind just as well.
With the understanding that they were in a tough environment, the Wolfpack took advantage of the Indians early offensive struggles, holding them to just three points in a low scoring first quarter. However, after falling behind 9-3 to start the second period of play, McEachern would go on a 13-6 run to eventually take a 16-15 lead into the locker room at the half. Looking to keep momentum in their favor, the Indians opened the third quarter with a quick 4-0 run, giving them their largest lead of the night as they led 20-15.
But with “belief” and an offensive surge of their own, North Paulding would regain the lead after outscoring the Indians 13-5 to close the quarter and lead 28-25 to start the final period of play. Getting the fourth quarter going outscoring the Wolfpack 10-6, McEachern would climb back on top taking a one point 35-34 lead, but North Paulding, understanding what was at hand, would not fold and would utilize a final 11-7 offensive run to knock off the Indians 45-42.
“They’ve been battling all year, we played like eight top 10 teams in the state,” North Paulding head coach, Wes Willis, said after the Wolfpack win on Tuesday. Continuing to praise his team for how hard they have fought throughout the season to this point, Willis added that in preparation for their match up with McEachern, the conversation with the team was simply believing that they “can do it” and reminding them that the grind of the season had prepared them for the moment. “I couldn’t be more proud of those girls and what they did today,” Willis said of their win on Tuesday, helping them secure the regular season region championship.
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