Athens' Nahyriah Timmons puts up a shot over the top of a Carver-Birmingham defender in Friday afternoon's Class 5A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal. Timmons scored 12 points in the Golden Eagles' 47-37 loss.

HANCEVILLE — Athens girls basketball coach Eddie Murphree was near tears in the postgame press conference. He wasn’t upset about the effort in the Golden Eagles’ 47-37 loss to Carver-Birmingham in the Class 6A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal Friday afternoon. He was devastated that there wouldn’t be at least one more practice with this group of players.

“I’m not upset about the loss,” Murphree said. “I’m upset because we’re not going to be able to come back and go to practice Sunday. We have such a camaraderie as a family and team. Everybody puts out hashtag family, or hashtag one, or all that mess. We don’t need a hashtag for what these ladies represent. God has been good to allow me to be around these ladies. I hope my kids grow up to have the class of this entire team. They’re special”

Athens had a size advantage in the paint, but the quickness of Carver made the difference. The Rams are normally a team that shoots well from 3-point range. However, Carver, made just 4 of 25 threes in the game. Carver mostly abandoned that offensive strategy in the second half in favor of driving to the basket with their quick guards.

It was effective, as Carver broke away from a 20-20 halftime tie to score 16 points in the third quarter to open up a 36-26 lead the Rams were able to comfortably hold on to.

“We knew we had to attack the paint,” Carver coach Jarvis Wilson said. “(Athens) has a very good post presence, so we felt we had to attack the defense down low.”

Randrea Wright was especially effective. The junior had just six points at halftime, but scored 19 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 25.

“Our shots weren’t falling, so we had to figure out another way to score,” Wright said. “I just attacked the basket and tried to take over.”

Carver held Athens to just six points in the third quarter to open up a 10-point lead, but the Rams failed to score in the first four minutes of the fourth. However, Athens only scored two points during that period, despite getting some open looks at the basket.

“That was kind of demoralizing,” Murphree said. “You stop them, keep working, give great effort and you come down on the other end, and just don’t get those shots to fall.”

That four-minute stretch encapsulated the whole game for Athens offensively The Golden Eagles made just 14 of 55 shots and were 0 of 16 from 3-point range.

“I tell you, you can have great defense with pressing and trapping, but somewhere along the line some shots have to go in,” Murphree said. “We’ve worked on shooting more than ever this year, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We executed our offense well. The shots just didn’t fall.”

Sophomore Caroline Bachus led Athens with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while junior Nahyriah Timmons added 12.

Athens finished the year with a 23-6 record and will lose only one senior starter, guard Alaina Taylor. Both Bachus and Timmons said they expect to be back in Hanceville next year.

“We’re not done, we’ll be back here,” Bachus said. “This was a good experience, and I can promise you me and Nahyriah will be back.”