District 2-4A girls: Godby ousts Rutherford

After a long drive to Tallahassee from Panama City on Friday, the Rutherford girls basketball team's ride home must have felt undoubtedly longer after Godby soundly defeated the Rams 47-14 in the District 2-4A semifinal game at Godby.

The Cougars kept their intensity up throughout the game, led by sophomore guard Sakezia Kelly with 13 points and senior guard Shanteria Holmes with 10 points.

Nicole Daniels and Courtney Adams combined for 10 of Rutherford's 14 points with five points each.

"They played us tough all season long," Godby coach Dwayne Brown said of Rutherford. "Today we played with a lot of maturity. We focused on some things defensively and we rebounded today, so that jump-started our offense."

The Cougars led 11-0 after the first quarter and held Rutherford scoreless until Adams put the Rams on the board with a layup with five minutes left in the second quarter. Still, Godby had a comfortable 27-3 lead at halftime.

Holmes opened up the third quarter with a 3-pointer for Godby, while Katelyn Gordon nailed a 3 to close out the third and give the Cougars a 39-8 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"We had too many turnovers," Rutherford coach Chris Small said. "Godby is a physical team and they make you play physical. They took it to us a little bit tonight, and they were a more physical team that made more plays."

Godby will face Wakulla tonight at 7 for the District 2-4A championship. The War Eagles, who arrived in the second half to scout their opponent, have already defeated Godby twice this year.

"Hopefully we have our confidence up that if we play sound defense, we can be in the game," Brown said.

Win or lose tonight, Godby — who have home-court advantage — will have a spot in the Class 4A regional tournament that starts next week.

"It's always good to be in regionals," Brown said. "It's better to be in regionals than sitting at home."