Lady Pirates take on Westlake in second round showdown
Feb. 27—Brunswick High's girls basketball team has quite the task tonight against undefeated Westlake to advance to the Elite 8. However, a win here would let everyone in the Class 6A tournament know just who the Lady Pirates are.
With just two days to prepare, catch Maria Mangram said her girls know the gameplan for tonight's game.
Westlake comes into this game 16-0 overall and 10-0 in Region 4-6A, but that doesn't deter the Lady Pirates.
"They are who they are — their name holds weight. I was always told everybody puts their uniforms on the same," Mangram said. "It's going to come down to the team that wants it the most. This could be a huge win for us, and we could definitely put Brunswick on the map by going in and playing them close.
"They haven't been rattled — no one has been even close to them all year. They are ranked in the state, and we respect them. At the end of the day, they're a team trying to get to the Elite 8, and so are we."
Westlake has two guards that can really cause other teams' problems in senior Raven Johnson and junior Ta'Niya Latson.
Latson leads the team in scoring as she averages 22.8 points a game. Johnson, who is committed to South Carolina, can also take control of the game as she averages 15.3 points. These two are high on Mangram's list of who to contain.
"Their point guard, she signed a D1 scholarship going to South Carolina, and so she can take over a game at any moment. We're going to have to contain her," Mangram said. "They also have another young lady that plays the guard position as well, and she is their leading scorer."
One thing the Lady Pirates have over the Lady Lions is rebounding. Mangram said while their guard play is good, she feels really confident in her team's rebounding.
"Looking at the comparison of the team, they do average more points than us, but we average more rebounds than them," Mangram said. "So one of our goals is to definitely outrebound them and just do a better job of containing scorers and knowing where they are."
Mangram said Westlake has some post players who can score, but she felt like her Lady Pirates are a little stronger in Shané Jackson and Makaila Brown.
"They do have post play, but our post players, I think, are a little more dominant than theirs, I would say," Mangram said. "We're going to feed off of our post players. I don't think that they have an answer for our post play. Like I said before, their guards are pretty good. Again, we're going to respect them, but we're going to go in swinging and fighting."
Brunswick and Westlake will tip-off at 6 p.m. tonight in Atlanta at the Lions gym. The winner of this game will advance to the Elite 8 and play the winner of the Habersham Central and Kell game.
