On Jan. 26, was 6-1 in region play and tied for first place. However, after Friday's heartbreaking 68-64 loss to Kennesaw Mountain, the Warriors are in a free fall. North Cobb has lost four of five games with all four losses having come by nine or less points, but that almost wasn't the case against the Mustangs.
With under five minutes left in the fourth quarter, North Cobb trailed 58-45 and the game looked to be all but over. Jalen Clark scored 10 points during a pivotal 13-3 run that cut the Mustang lead to 61-58. However, the Warriors would get no closer and Kennesaw Mountain was able to escape with the victory. The Mustangs left he door open by only hitting 7-of-12 free throws in the final minute of play, but North Cobb was unable to capitalize.
Clark led the Warriors in scoring with 21 points while teammate Eddie Cengic added 15.
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Warrior coach Terry Gorsuch isn't too concerned with his team's recent woes.
"This time of year, our main focus is the region tournament," Gorsuch said after the game. "Yeah, we want to win some more games going into it, but if we lose the next two and then win the region tournament and qualify for state, I'll take it."
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North Cobb (13-10, 7-5) closes the season with two teams above them in the region standings. On Tuesday, the Warriors travel to first place Campbell (16-5, 8-3). They'll follow that up with on Friday when they host Harrison (15-6, 7-3) in both team's regular season finale.
The Lady Warriors fared slightly better than the boys.
When the first and last place teams in a region get together for a high school basketball game, the results usually aren't pretty. Friday at North Cobb High School the first and last place teams in Region 4-AAAAA got together and you guessed it, the results weren't pretty.
Region No. 1 and state ranked North Cobb (10-2, 20-3) blew by last place Kennesaw Mountain (1-11, 5-17) 63-20, largely thanks to a dominant second quarter where the Lady Warriors outscored the Lady Mustangs 24-2.
Even though his team was up 45-10 at the half, North Cobb coach Matt Williams thought the Lady Warriors started the game sluggishly.
"We came out pretty flat," Williams admitted. "They had an 8-5 lead [in the first quarter] before we went on a little run."
Oh and when Williams says 'little run,' he actually means a 40-2 scoring spurt to end the first half. The 'little run' turned Kennesaw Mountain's 8-5 lead into a 45-10 North Cobb rout. Keying the huge run was 5-foot-7-inch senior Jarae Savage, scoring 22 of North Cobb's 40 points. The guard ended her night with 24 points overall.
Taylor Gordon and Aundrea Hurst also reached double digits in the game. Gordon, a freshman, scored 15 while Hurst added 10.
Next up for the Lady Warriors is a Tuesday showdown at Campbell. The Lady Spartans, also 10-2, are tied atop region 4-AAAAA with North Cobb.
