Opening up the playoffs with a 50-point win is impressive. Doing it in back-to-back playoff games is a statement.
After a 50-point beatdown of Franklin County in the first round of the Class AAA state playoffs earlier this week, Wesleyan followed that up with another 50-point win, this time against Coahulla Creek 83-33 in Round 2.
The win gives the Wolves 11 wins in a row and a spot in the Class AAA quarterfinals for the first time in program history. The Wolves were last in the quarterfinals as members of Class A-Private back in 2020.
“I think we are peaking at the right time,” Wesleyan head coach Carolyn Blackman said. “I feel like everyone is buying into what their strengths are and what their role is. Just going out there and doing that and playing extremely hard. I don’t want any team to ever outwork us, so they’re buying into that and playing as hard as they can.”
The Wolves were letting it fly from three-point range early in the first quarter and weren’t missing.
Their first five shot attempts of the game came from behind the arc and the Wolves hit all five of them. Before the Colts could blink, they found themselves in a 15-5 hole with no hope of getting out.
The hole only got deeper for the Colts as the first quarter progressed.
After opening up the game 5-for-5 from behind the arc, the Wolves went on to make 10 of their 11 shot attempts to finish the quarter with 25 points.
Chit-Chat Wright scored eight points in the quarter, including two of their five three-pointers, and sent her bench and the home crowd into a frenzy after stealing a pass and executing a perfect spin move layup in the closing seconds to send the game into the second quarter with the Wolves leading 25-6.
On defense, the Wolves held Shea Poe scoreless in the first quarter, who was a first-team All-Region recipient from Region 6-AAA and turned the Colts over six times. All but one of the Colts turnovers led to points on the other end for the Wolves.
“I felt like it was all about how we started the game,” Blackman said. “I felt like (Coahulla Creek) was shellshocked a little bit because of how aggressive we were. We were playing really hard and really fast, so that’s a tough adjustment. They probably hadn’t seen that speed this year.”
Wright, like she has done a lot this season, turned into an assist machine in the second quarter.
The junior dished out five assists in the quarter, three to Johanna Potter and one apiece to Avery Tucker and Eva Garabadian. By halftime, Wright had 13 points and seven assists, and the Wolves led by 34 points, 47-13.
“She doesn’t have to (score),” Blackman said. “If we’re hitting shots, she doesn’t have to do it. But when we need a bucket, she knows that she’ll have to shoot the ball. She’s usually a walking bucket.”
Wright picked up assists eight and nine early in the third quarter and eventually reached double figures late in the fourth quarter to finish the game with a double-double.
The Wolves scored 22 more points in the third quarter and did so by sharing the ball. They got at least two points from seven different players in the third quarter with Desiree Davis leading the way with six points.
Potter, who finished her night with a game-high 21 points, scored her last two field goals in the third quarter and proved to be a giant mismatch all game for the Colts.
“It’s really hard to key in on her because the other four that are on the court can score just as easily,” Blackman said. “If you take her away, we have other weapons, which is really great basketball.”
After picking up her 10th assist in the fourth, Wright exited not too long after to finish her night with 15 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and four steals. Londyn Walker joined Wright and Potter in double-figures with 13 points, as did Audrey Ekoue-Bla, who scored 11.
With the win, the Wolves will now play host to a red-hot Carver-Columbus team in the quarterfinals after winning the GHSA coin toss. The Tigers beat Morgan County 94-31 Friday night and beat Upson-Lee 102-34 in the first round.
“Next week is going to be tough,” Blackman said. “Carver-Columbus is a really good team. They’re tough and they’re going to try and make us play a really sloppy, messy game. We don’t want to go their pace, we want to go our pace and have more controlled basketball. If it’s an up-and-down track race, they’re going to win. So we can’t do that.”
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