Creekview knocks off defending champion River Ridge in OT, will play for 5A title

Creekview, ranked No. 4 in the state, improved to 26-5 on the year. The Grizzlies will face No. 3 Milton in next Friday’s state title tilt in Macon, after the Eagles beat Coffee 59-48 in Friday’s first semifinal.

The River Ridge Knights, winners of two state championships in the last three seasons, end their season at 23-8.

“That’s probably as good as we’ve played all year. Our big thing today was that we had to have a good start, and we jumped on (River Ridge) early and kind of weathered the storm there in the second quarter when we missed a lot of “gimme” shots,” said Creekview head coach Eric Herrick. “And our team is just so dang resilient… they just battle and battle and battle, and it wasn’t just one player tonight — it was everybody. Brenley (Matthews) hit shots, Kylee (Herrick) hit shots, Finley (Howard) made big plays and played great defense… it was just an all-around team effort.

“I’m just so freaking proud of these kids,” Herrick added. “You look at us and you never in a million years might think we’re gonna be in a state championship game, but we’re headed down to Macon next Friday.”

River Ridge head coach Jason Taylor emerged from his disappointed team’s locker room and said Creekview’s ability to hit clutch baskets was the difference in the game.

“Their ability to make shots and our inability to make shots — that was basically it,” Taylor said with a shrug. “Give credit to Creekview… they played great defense all night long and held us to one of our lowest season point totals, but we had plenty of good looks, too, that we should have knocked down that we didn’t, and they hit those shots when they were open. They were the better team tonight. Hats off to them, and I wish the best of luck to Eric and his team in the state championship, and I hope they can bring a title home for Cherokee County.”

Creekview connected consistently from the perimeter early in the game, canning five 3-pointers in the opening frame on the way to a 20-8 lead after the first quarter. But the offense went cold in the second period, as the Grizzlies hit only one field goal and River Ridge closed the gap to 23-19 by halftime.

The Creekview lead stayed at six or seven points throughout the third quarter, but another cold spell — four and a half scoreless minutes spanning the third and fourth periods — gave River Ridge an opening to get back into it. Reagan Mulligan hit a floater in the lane, and her “and-one” free throw gave the Knights their first lead since early in the game, 34-33, with 6:30 left to play. River Ridge still led 38-37 with four minutes remaining after a layup by Kyla Cantey, but both teams wound up tied at 42 apiece at the end of regulation.

In the extra period, it was all Creekview. Back-to-back 3-point bombs by Brenley Matthews and KK Hamby built a quick six-point advantage, and the Knights didn’t have a counter for that last Creekview surge.

The Grizzlies went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to seal the win.

“I was pretty freaking emotional in that locker room just now,” Herrick said after addressing his team postgame, his voice cracking. “They don’t care who gets the credit. They just want to win. This is special. I told our girls I was so proud of them. I love to watch our group compete, and I love how hard they play. They’re special.”

Matthews scored 15 points to pace Creekview, while Lili Beal scored 13, Hamby added 11 and Herrick added 10.

Cantey scored 12 points to pace River Ridge, while Finley Parker — playing in the state tournament for the first time after injuring her knee in the region championship game two weeks ago — scored 11.