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KENNESAW - McEachern withstood an early Campbell surge Friday and pulled away in the third quarter to take a 64-57 win in the semifinal round of the Region 5AAAAA tournament at Kennesaw Mountain.

McEachern advanced to today's 5:30 p.m. championship game for a showdown with Marietta, a 68-57 win over North Cobb in Friday's other semifinal.

Campbell jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but McEachern closed the gap at the end of the first quarter and the game remained close until the Lady Indians began pulling away late in the third quarter.

McEachern led by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter before Campbell pulled close again.

"We stepped it up in the second half," McEachern coach Phyllis Arthur said. "The first half was nip-and-tuck, but the second half, we stepped it up. Campbell is a very good, very aggressive and well-coached team. We came out a little shaky, but we eventually pulled it together."

Kyra Crosby scored half of McEachern's points, leading the Lady Indians with 31.

Chakecia Miller scored 28 points for Campbell, which will play North Cobb in the third-place game today at 5:30 p.m.

Miller nailed a 3-pointer to get things started for Campbell, with Briana Edmonds scoring on a layup and a jumper to give the Lady Spartans a 7-0 lead with 6:07 remaining in the first quarter.

Genelle Benjamin put McEachern on the scoreboard with a jumper to cut the Campbell lead to 7-2, but Edmonds' layup increased the Lady Spartans' advantage to 9-2 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.

McEachern proceeded to storm back with a 9-2 run to tie the game 11-11, but Erica Norwood's 3-pointer with 1:45 left gave Campbell a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

McEachern built a 23-16 lead with 4:30 remaining in the first half, but Campbell bounced back with an 8-0 run, with Miller nailing a 3-pointer, Taleeshia Hackett sinking one of two free throws, Brittany Hodges scoring on a layup and Miller making a steal and then scoring on a layup to put the Lady Spartans back in front 24-23 with 2:04 left in the first half.

That would turn out to be the last time Campbell led in the game, as Crosby was fouled on a putback and made her free throw and Tanisha Pugh hit one of two free throws to give McEachern a 27-24 halftine lead.

McEachern opened up a 33-25 lead with 5:45 left in the third quarter, but Miller nailed a 3-pointer and Hodges made a pair of free throws to help Campbell cut its deficit to 33-30.

McEachern began to build its lead back up at the free-throw line, with Crosby making one of two free throws and Ashley Cooper sinking both of her free throws to put the Lady Indians back up, 36-30. Then, after Miller made one of two free throw attempts to help Campbell cut the lead to 36-31, Jocelyn Shaw and Benjamin hit back-to-back jumpers for a 40-31 Lady Indian advantage with 1:52 left in the third quarter.

McEachern went on to lead, 45-36, at the end of the third quarter and then began the fourth quarter with an 12-3 run to take a 58-40 lead with 4:44 remaining in the game.

Campbell made it closer at the end as the Lady Spartans finished the game with a 12-2 run to reduce a 62-45 deficit with 2:57 left to the final 13-point margin.

goshust@mdjonline.com

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