CFCA fends off Furtah Prep comeback in 52-45 win to advance to GIAA 2A semifinals

Furtah Prep was outmanned even before tipoff.

The Falcons only had seven players dressed for their GIAA Class 2A girls quarterfinal Friday against Central Fellowship, and none of those seven matched the size of the Lancers.

Granted, Furtah Prep was 20-4 coming in, so something has been working this season.

It didn’t work in the first half, and Central Fellowship looked like it might have an easy day. The execution levels swapped sides, and Central Fellowship had to sweat out the fourth quarter en route to a 52-45 win in the third game of the day at Tattnall.

Central Fellowship advanced to the semifinal at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Brewton-Parker, where they will play against Southwest Georgia, a 43-22 winner over Briarwood in their quarterfinal game. The state championship is on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Lancers went from a romp to a close game, which has been the case lately.

“We’ve got a young team,” said head coach Harold Riley, whose team improved to 22-4. “Just the mindset. They’ve got to understand how to finish, how to start the game and how to finish. That’s been our struggle the past few games. We got a few coming back from injury, trying to work them back in.”

Friday was the first time in about eight games the Lancers’ rotation was back to normal with the return of guard Samiyah Woolfolk and post Bella Wade, alleviating some of the struggles.

Furtah Prep, a first-round 65-52 loser to Citizens Christian last year, got off to a rough start from the floor. The Falcons turned it over four of their first seven possessions and missed their first three shots.

CFCA matched that start and trailed 2-1 after Furtah Prep’s initial bucket, with three turnovers and five misses before Woolfolk drained a 3-pointer from the right side.

The rim then got a little bigger for the Lancers, who scored on three of their next four possessions — including a three from Morgan Riley — for an 11-4 lead.

Furtah Prep’s final bucket of the quarter made it an 11-6 game, with CFCA scoring another eight in the final two minutes for a 19-6 lead after one.

Little changed in the second quarter. Central Fellowship slowed down a little but still cruised to a 29-12 halftime lead.

Riley knew better than to feel good about it.

“You’ve got to continue to play the whole entire time,” he said of the halftime talk. “If you come out in the second half complacent, teams are gonna fight back in the game and it’s going to be harder down the stretch.”

It appeared for a while that the Lancers might double up the Falcons — who entered having won 11 straight — for the game, which they did after one and in the second quarter. The halftime discussion for Furtah Prep, down a whopping 17 points, was simple.

“We’ve got to come to play,” Furtah Prep head coach Kenyatta Shim said. “Come out here and you’ve got to put it on the line. It was energy and execution.”

The Falcons improved, but they were still less than halfway there midway through the quarter, down 36-17. They converted consecutive turnovers into buckets and it was a 14-point game, 13 entering the fourth as the Lancers turned tentative and slower.

Whether Furtah Prep had enough to get it to 10 was finally answered at the 4:55 mark on Guilia Bauza’s 3-pointer that cut it to 46-37, CFCA surviving a turnover and a miss before scoring again on Kennedy Bradshaw’s putback.

But soon the margin was down to seven on baskets in the paint on consecutive trips, CFCA holding onto a 48-41 lead with 2:53 left, plenty of time.

“I did see my upperclassmen start to panic a lot,” Riley said. “ ‘Calm down and relax, you’re up, you’re not behind, stop playing so fast.’”

Maleyah Hines added to it at the 2:30 mark, but Furtah Prep couldn’t counter Lancer turnovers with any points as the clock favored Central Fellowship.

The free-throw line didn’t, though, the Lancers surviving an 8-for-16 game and 4-for 8 fourth quarter.

Post player Hines led CFCA with 17, while guard Avery Queen added 10.

Bauza led all scorers with 18, 14 in the second half, Isabella Rey adding 12.

“Everything we told them (happened),” Riley said. “I’m glad it happened now, so we can fix it down the stretch.”