The Tribune

by RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rsorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves advanced to the Senior Girls GSSSA Championship series for the first time in school history.

The T’Wolves closed out the best-of-three semifinal series with a 39-29 win over the CV Bethel Stingrays last night at the AF Adderley Gymnasium.

Erin Williams delivered another dominant performance with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Laverne Armbrister scored 13 and Ashante Strachan finished with nine. Kevinique Davis led the Stingrays with nine while Brineka Alexis and D’Shante Cooper each scored six.

Anatol Rodgers will advance to face the defending champions and undefeated CI Gibson Rattlers when the final tips off Monday night at Loyola Hall.

Williams, the 10th-grade phenom, said she remains optimistic about the potential of her team’s title chase.

“It feels good for my first year and I’m really excited to see what my team can do. Hopefully, we can do what we came here to do. I was doubtful coming back from an injury but with the determination and courage that we had I knew we can do anything,” she said.

“That game two loss really got to me, and I came in with the determination that I wasn’t going to lose game three. We went over our mistakes and we just came out planned to play even better than we did in the first game.

Armbrister, who also serves as team captain, said her team regrouped after the game two loss: “This was the last game, we knew if we lost it was the end of the season. We lost that second game so we knew we had to come out and fight and give everything we have,” she said.

“We went to church, the pastor said to put on the whole armour of God and we thank him for everything we’ve done. We just allowed him to fight through us and shine through us. In the second half we were more vibrant, had more energy, we got tired there at the end of the fourth we just had to dig deep and push through.”

A hard-fought opening period saw the T’Wolves cling to a 5-4 lead. The game opened up in the second quarter when Anatol went on a 10-1 run in the second quarter. Williams scored eight points on that run, all from the interior. The Stingrays were held without a field goal until just under the four minute mark in the half before a Cooper layup made the score 14-6. Williams dished assist to Armbrister and Strachan concluded the half with a late layup to take an 18-10 T’Wolves lead into the half. The Stingrays would manage to trim the lead to four late in the third quarter, 33-29, but Williams and Armbrister would score on consecutive possessions to put the game away.

In game one, the T’Wolves closed the game on a 10-2 scoring runt o take a 41-30 win. Williams had 14 points to lead the Timberwolves, Armbrister added 10, and Strachan finished with seven. Tasha’nae Bernard led the Stingrays with 13 points and Cooper added 11.

In-game two, the Stingrays scored a 40-32 win behind Cooper’s 11 points.

For the T’Wolves, attention now shifts to making further history with a championship win over the Rattlers.

Armbrister said: “Expect us to come out harder and stronger in the final and to go all the way.”

Williams added: “We hope to play to the best of our abilities. We have an advantage against them, we hope to slow them down.”

In the 2019 championship series, the Rattlers swept the Stingrays in the best of three title game.