ATHENS – The Lady Doggs picked a good game to play all four quarters.

Anything less would not have been enough to upset No. 7-ranked Clarke Central 49-46 in Athens Tuesday night.

“We finally completed a whole game,” said WBHS Head Coach Brenda Hill-Gilmore. “We had been playing three and a half quarters and then imploding in the final four minutes.”

Instead of imploding, Winder-Barrow exploded with a 9-1 run in the last 4:20 to erase a five-point deficit and deliver the Lady Gladiators (14-3, 5-1 Subregion 8-AAAA North) their first Region 8-AAAA loss of the season.

Lady Doggs center Mimi Hill scored a game-high 26 points and added eight rebounds. Her final point at the charity stripe tied the game at 46 with only 38 seconds remaining.

A player who had yet to score brought Winder-Barrow the win.

Back-up guard Shant Finch stole the ball with 14 seconds left and quickly drew a holding call. She stepped calmly to the line and hit both of her free throws for a 48-46 advantage.

Finch added another free throw with five seconds remaining, and then point guard Lauren Hamel blocked Clarke Central’s final attempt to equalize.

While the two guards secured the win, Hill kept the Lady Doggs afloat. With six minutes remaining in the third quarter, the senior had accounted for 22 of her team’s 29 points when she tied the score at 6:05.

When the defense began to focus on Hill, the rest of the team spread the ball around and stayed with the home team.

“We just clicked at the right time tonight,” Hill-Gilmore said. “That was a great team win.”

Cierra Jackson led the Lady Gladiators with 17 points and seven rebounds. Aja Sorrells added 10 points.

Winder-Barrow will be back on the court at 7 p.m. Friday when they host Habersham Central. It will aslo be senior night for WBHS.

WINDER-BARROW  49, CLARKE CENTRAL 46
WBHS          14           7           14          14—49
CCHS            12         15           10           9—46
Winder-Barrow—Mimi Hill 10 3-5 26, Lauren Hamel 3 1-4 7, Delorean Itabiyi 1 5-6 7, Brittany Witt 1 1-4 4, Shant Finch 0 3-4 3, Rebekah Autry 1 0-0 2.  Totals 16 13-23 49.
Clarke Central—Cierra Jackson 3 8-11 17, Aja Sorrells 5 0-0 10, Kalyn Breeding 3 2-2 8, Kim Williams 2 0-0 4, Jillian Anderson 1 1-4 3, Daneidra Watkins 0 2-2 2, Dayna Edwards 1 0-0 2.  Totals 15 13-19 46.
Three-pointers—Winder-Barrow 4 (Hill 3, Witt); Clarke Central 1 (Jackson).  Rebounds—Winder-Barrow 24 (Hill 8, Itabiyi 8); Clarke Central 28 (Jackson 7).  Turnovers—Winder-Barrow 23; Clarke Central 19.  Personal fouls—Winder-Barrow 15; Clarke Central 19.