NORTH AUGUSTA — Cross Creek’s high school girls’ basketball team upset North Augusta 48-46 on the Yellow Jackets’ home floor on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Cross Creek won the 3A state title in 2021 but has come up short the last couple years, getting eliminated in the Elite Eight playoffs.
North Augusta has won the 4A state title five of the last seven seasons, including winning the title last year and going an undefeated 28-0 in 2017.
Razorbacks head coach Kim Schlein was proud of her team whose defensive play helped get the win in the end.
“I told our girls tonight was not a good night to have a bad night because I think our shooting was off, free throws and we just missed a lot,” she said. “But defensively in the fourth quarter, the way we controlled the boards is what got us over the top.”
North Augusta began the game on a 6-0 run, but Cross Creek battled back to take a 13-12 through one quarter after four points from Razorbacks’ Janya Wiley.
The game would stay close throughout the first half, and the Lady Yellow Jackets tied the game with a 3-pointer from Celena Grant and two free throws from Ashley Walker, making the score 24-24 going into the third.
The Lady Jackets began the third quarter on a 7-0 run, but late turnovers kept the Lady Razorbacks in the game with the score 37-34 in favor of North Augusta through three quarters.
Wiley tied the game 37-37 to start the fourth with a long 3-pointer.
Cross Creek took a two-point lead, but North Augusta answered with a 3-pointer of their own by Walker.
Seven points and a game-sealing steal from Michaela Bogans led Cross Creek to a 48-46 victory.
Tahjae Harris led the Razorbacks with 14 points, followed by Bogans with 13 and Wiley with 11.
“We weren’t having a great game offensively and in the fourth quarter she (Bogans) said “Coach. I got it”,“ Schlein said. “She’s ready to takeover, and once we settled down and made layups and took the lead, I felt like we’d be OK because it spiked our energy. But she has done a great job controlling it for us, and it’s obvious we got to have the ball in her hands.”
The Lady Razorbacks will look to improve and continue their journey to another state title after this win.
“We got to control the boards better and control the ball better,” said Schlein. “The Elite has been our Achilles heel. It is always a battle, and we know we got work to do and we are just going to keep pushing.”
Cross Creek (6-2) will host Thomson (4-0) on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 5 p.m.
Christopher Rickerson, an Augusta University graduate, has covered area sports for Augusta University, The Augusta Press and Augusta Good News. Subscribe to the Augusta Good News newsletter here.
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