Riverdale’s Anastasia Hayes (3) pushes toward the basket as she is defended by Stewarts Creek’s Brandi Ferby.
LA VERGNE — Riverdale earned one more home game. But it took a gritty performance in the Region 4-AAA championship Wednesday night.
The fourth-ranked Lady Warriors outlasted ninth-ranked Stewarts Creek 51-48 after Brianah Ferby’s half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
“For our kids, we were kind of in grind mode,” Riverdale coach Randy Coffman said. “I wouldn’t say we were clicking on all cylinders by any means. Give Stewarts Creek credit to that. But at the end of the day, our kids were able to answer every one of their runs. I thought that was really big.”
Riverdale (28-4) hosts Region 3-AAA runner-up Cumberland County (24-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday in a Class AAA sectional. Stewarts Creek (24-8) plays at Region 3-AAA champion Bradley Central (31-3). The Bearettes beat Cumberland County 64-47 in their region championship.
Two nights after hitting 11 3-pointers to end top-ranked Blackman’s season, the Lady Warriors missed their first seven 3-point attempts before Amanda Whittington buried one with 1:27 left in the second quarter to give Riverdale an 18-14 lead. The Lady Warriors (28-4) finished with four 3-pointers on the night.
“We had to (score other ways) to win,” said Riverdale sophomore Alexis Whittington, who had a game-high 21 points with two 3-pointers. “We can’t just rely on 3s.
“We’ve got to go in if they aren’t falling.”
The region championship is Riverdale’s first since 2013.
Miss Basketball finalist Anastasia Hayes finished with 15 points for Riverdale. Jasmine Smith and Brianah Ferby had 16 apiece for the Lady Red Hawks. Brandi Ferby added 10.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Kreager.