CARROLLTON - Carrollton's relentless defensive effort, along with powerful offensive play enabled the Hawks to upend top-seeded Father McGivney Catholic 48-41 to advance to the final of the 49th Annual Lady Hawk Invitational.
Lauren Flowers led the way for Carrollton with 22 points, while Harper Darr came up with 10 points.
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Natalie Beck led Father McGivney Catholic with 14 points, while Sabrina Ivnik added 10 points, but a strong second and third quarter by host Carrollton gave the Hawks a 48-41 win in the semifinals on Thursday night at the Carrollton gym.
Abby Flowers had six points for the Lady Hawks, while Darci Albrecht and Megan Camden added four points apiece.
Emily Johnson had seven points for the Griffins and Sami Oller had six points, missing some of the game with an injury.
The Griffins were outscored in the middle two quarters by Carrollton 30-16, which made the difference in the game, as the Hawks advanced to the final on Saturday night.
Carrollton head coach Brian Madson was extremely pleased with his girls knocking off the top seed of the tournament.
"I am glad we get to play in the championship," he said. "I challenged the girls and they took care of Jersey and then the No. 1-seed Father McGivney. It was a physical type of game and we like to play in more of those types of games. Abby was phenomenal and Abby and Darci both played extremely well on defense and Megan rebounded like crazy. Freshman Hayden came in and was strong off the bench. I couldn't be more proud of the girls."
Father McGivney Catholic coach Jeff Oller was proud of his girls' effort in what he described as "a very physical game."
"You could tell Carrollton really wanted it," he said. "We knew it would be a physical game and it was a grind at both ends of the court. Losing Devin (Ellis) in the first quarter was a game-changer. Flowers was a focus of our game plan to contain, but she still got 22. Playing this type of physical game was great preparation for us moving forward in the postseason."
McGivney took a 14-11 lead after the first quarter, with Carrollton rallying to tie the game at halftime 23-23. The Hawks went ahead in the third quarter 41-29, with the Griffins outscoring Carrollton in the fourth quarter 11-7, but the Hawks came out on top.
The Griffins saw both Mia Lieberman and Izzie Vernarsky each score two points.
The Hawks are now 18-6 and advance to the final, where they'll play Hardin Calhoun-Brussels, who defeated Staunton in the second semifinal, Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. The Griffins are now 17-8, and face the Bulldogs in the third-place game Saturday at 6 p.m.
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