By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

ELBERTON – The Callaway Lady Cavaliers gave themselves a chance.

Trailing by 10 points at the half of Saturday’s Class AA state-tournament game against Elbert County, Callaway fought all the way back to take the lead in the fourth quarter.

In the end, though, it was home-standing Elbert County escaping with a 47-45 victory to advance to the second round.

A successful season for the Lady Cavaliers came to end with a 14-10 record.

The Lady Cavaliers had a 45-43 lead with 1:44 to play, but they didn’t score again.

Elbert County hit a 3-pointer late in the game to take a 46-45 lead, and it extended the lead to two with a free throw with four seconds to play.

Callaway got a desperation shot away at the buzzer that didn’t connect.

“We let one get away,” Callaway head coach Deyano Martin said. “All we can do now is try to get better. We’re not going to beat ourselves up over it.”

The good news for the Lady Cavaliers is that they return some talented players, including a trio of freshmen who combined to score 31 points on Saturday.

Camryn Stargell, an outstanding freshman post player, led Callaway with 12 points.

“She played very well when she was in,” Martin said. “She played tremendous. She played really hard. She didn’t look like a freshman.”

Two other freshmen, guards Gabrielle Johnson and Niakoe Burks, added 11 and nine points, respectively.

Senior Qua Beasley made three 3-pointers and scored nine points.