Fort Valley, Ga.—The Lady Cats earned a berth in the state’s Class AAAA Final 4 with 69-58 victory over Hardaway High School Lady Hawks of Columbus at Fort Valley State University Friday.

They will play Southwest DeKalb at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Gwinnitt Arena. DeKalb beat Northwest Whitfield 57-49 at the University of West Georgia Friday.

The win was the second over Hardaway, which the Lady Cats had beat them earlier 65-56 in the Region 1AAAA tournament in Bainbridge on Feb. 19.

After the game, Lady Cats coach Latreisha Moon said she thought her team played hard and her defense was the difference in the game.

“We had a stretch in the second quarter when we stole the ball three times and hit three straight layups,” Moon said. “After that we continued to pull away, and stayed up by double digits and controlled the tempo the rest of the game.”

The Lady Cats built a 37-22 halftime lead.

April Thomas put them ahead 3-0 with long 3-point jumper just 39 seconds into the game.

Bria Harris tied it up with a steal, field goal and free throw at the 7:01 mark. The Lady Cats went on a 6-1 run, highlighted by a jumper from the left side by Zaikia Dawson at the 5:25 mark to go up 9-3. Consecutive steals and layups by Briana Wade and Dawson at the 4:31 and 4:18 marks in the first quarter put them up 27-18, giving the Lady Cats their first double-digit lead.

The Lady Cats were led by Alexis Burke with a team-high 30 points. Harris had 11 points, Wade added 9, Dawson had 8, Thomas had 7, Megan Bell had 3 and LaShawnda Middleton had 1.

Kelsie Weynand was high scorer for the Lady Hawks with 25 points. Roshonda Billins was also in double figures with 11.

The win gives the Lady Cats an overall record of 24-5, and it was their 16 consecutive win.