Bainbridge’s leading scorer Nadia Marshall returned from illness in time to help the Lady Cats beat Statesboro 60-50 last Friday in the first round of the state playoffs.

Marshall was hot from the field, draining 8 of 10 for 22 points and going 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Marshall also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 8 steals.

“The biggest thing was getting Nadia back in the lineup,” said coach Kelvin Cochran.

Tytianna Roseborough was also in double digits scoring with 16 points, 6 of which came from 3-pointers.

Zycheria Russ showed her 3-pointer skills off as she poured in 3-of-5 for 9 points.

A major part of the game plan against the Blue Devils was stopping Lacy Robins, Statesboro’s best player, according to Cochran. Small adjustments had to be made to do that.

“Sometimes we have to make adjustments that go against what they’ve been taught all year,” Cochran said. “We talk about making slight adjustments like that, and that can be the difference in winning the game and losing the game. “I knew we had to stop (Robins), and I felt like we did a pretty good job of that for the most part.”

Bainbridge led 17-14 after the first quarter and had a strong second quarter to take a 37-25 lead at halftime. The Lady Cats kept the pressure on in the third quarter, taking a 52-39 lead and closed out the game with 8 points scored and 11 points allowed in the fourth.

Next, the 2-seed Lady Cats travel to 1-seed Fayette County for the second round of state. The Tiger eliminated Bainbridge from the tournament last season with a 45-36 win.

“We have a good chance if we go up there and play well,” Cochran said. “If we play like we normally play, we’ll have a good chance to win on the road up there.”

Cochran admitted that last year’s loss spurred the Lady Cats to practice harder this week.

“They ended our season, we might as well return the favor to them,” Cochran said, smiling. “That’s certainly a little motivation for them.”

Tipoff is at 6 p.m. in Fayetteville.