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The Callaway basketball team saw its season come to a heartbreaking conclusion on Tuesday in the first round of the 2A state playoffs as the Cavaliers suffered a 38-37 loss to Westside (Macon).

In a strange twist of fate, this was the fourth encounter between the two teams this season. Westside won the first matchup at home before Callaway took care of business on its home floor and proceeded to win a dramatic neutral site game in the semifinals of the region 2-2A tournament.

The Cavaliers got off to a rough start on offense.

By halftime, Callaway was staring at a 23-11 deficit. 

The Cavaliers were eventually able to find a second gear on offense and subsequently got back into the game in the second half. 

Callaway did just enough to hang in there heading to the fourth quarter. After trailing 31-14 late in the third quarter, Callaway went on a 10-1 run to end the period to cut the Westside lead back to single digits (32-24) heading to the final quarter of play. 

The Cavaliers kept plugging away and eventually trimmed the deficit to just two points with 90 seconds to play, but the Seminoles would quickly hit a free throw to push their lead back to three points. Despite multiple chances to tie the game, the Cavaliers came up just short. With just 19.6 seconds on the clock, Aniyah McFarland was fouled shooting a 3-pointer but connected on just two of her three free throw attempts which forced the Cavaliers to foul the Seminoles and play the free throw game late.

Callaway would have another chance to tie it with 15 seconds left but could only make one of two free throw attempts. A potential game-winning shot clattered off the rim just before the final buzzer.

In her final game with the Cavaliers, Raniya Mahone scored a team-high 12 points. Kenzi Howard was the next highest-scoring Cavalier with eight points.

Callaway finished the 2024-25 with a record of 15-10 and a region runner-up trophy. The Cavaliers will now have the difficult task of replacing quality seniors like Raniya Mahone, Tra’Niya Mitchell and Aniyah McFarland among others.