Chattanooga one win away from first state title

BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com

Chattanooga will get its shot at a title.

The Lady Warriors sealed their place in the Class A girls state championship game Friday morning, beating Calumet 60-50 at State Fair Arena.

Chattanooga (26-3) will take on the winner of this afternoon’s game between Okarche and Seiling at 7 p.m. Saturday.

If the Lady Warriors win, it would be the first basketball title for Chattanooga.

“It means a lot to have a chance to win a title and it’s even more special that it could be the first,” Chattanooga’s Ali Brown said. “We want this so bad. We’ve been dreaming about it for so long.”

Chattanooga was ranked No. 1 in Class A for much of the season until Calumet jumped ahead in the final poll of the year.

“That motivated us,” Brown said. “We wanted to play them to show who the real No. 1 was.”

The Lady Warriors jumped out to an 18-point lead by early in the second quarter before Calumet settled in.

Calumet’s fans regularly chanted, “We believe,” even with the Lady Chieftains chances appearing very slim.

But Calumet steadily cut into the lead until a 9-0 run midway through the second quarter not only pulled the Lady Chieftains to within single figures for the first time since early on, but pushed Calumet to within four, 52-48.