And in a game where both teams were completely spent, both Lady Blue Devil coach Kathy Matthews and Lady Lion head man Jimmy LeBlanc were also still trying to catch their breath by the time all was said and done.
"I'm worn out. Completely worn out. That was a ball game," Matthews said. "It was just nip-and-tuck there for quite a while and, really, I'm not sure how we got that lead there early in the fourth. But I'll take it."
Bremen (7-2) took an early 12-8 lead after the opening quarter, but ran into some first-half foul trouble and trailed going into the break at 21-20. Central (4-3) had the chance to build a bigger lead in the opening half, but struggled from the floor and the charity stripe, going just 7-of-14 from the free-throw line in the first half.
"We missed a lot of shots early and we expended a lot of energy in the first half. We just weren't able to get that same little run against them in the second half. It was a good, steady game in the second half," LeBlanc said. "I just didn't feel comfortable with our legs to get our pressure going right there in the second half. But they did a good job of getting some shots and we missed a lot of shots."
Following the frantic, back-and-forth third quarter that saw Bremen score the final six points to take a 38-36 lead into the final eight minutes, the Lady Blue Devils methodically put it away from there.
Jordan Hill's 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the fourth put Bremen ahead by nine — marking the biggest lead of the night for either team — and the Lady Lions were never able to get any closer than six the rest of the way.
Hill led all scorers with 17 points, while Kayleigh Medlin posted a double-double for Bremen with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots and Kalia Johnson also had a strong night with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore forward Brianna Cousins led the way for Central, dropping in 15 points with 12 rebounds, while Sherae Bonner had nine points, 20 rebounds and three blocked shots and Wesli Simmons also chipped in with nine points.
Central moves into the third-place game against Bowdon today at 4 p.m. at The Coliseum on the University of West Georgia campus, while Bremen will face Paulding County in the championship game at 7 p.m.
"It's going to be tough. I don't know much about them, but I hear they are a very tough team. So we've got to come out and be ready to play and stay out of foul trouble," Matthews said.
In other Holiday Classic action from Friday:
Rockmart girls 33, Temple 26: The Lady Tigers (0-9) rallied back from a 12-point halftime deficit to cut the lead down to one in the fourth quarter, but they never could get over the hump to take the lead down the stretch.
And after scoring just seven points in the first half and struggling to take care of the ball, Temple executed much better in the second half, outscoring the Lady Jackets (2-4) by a 19-14 count in the final two quarters.
But something Lady TIger coach Rhett Parson has preached all season proved to be the case again on Friday — his ball club has to put that type of effort together for an entire game.
"I think we're on repeat right now — we've just got to play four quarters. That's the bottom line. We've got to practice harder and we've got to play four quarters," Parson said.
Dru Groves led the Lady Tigers with five points and five rebounds, while Charmin Moore posted four points with eight rebounds and Shaye McIntyre also scored four points. Katria Powell led Temple with nine rebounds.
Courtney Farrell paced Rockmart with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Rockmart advances to the fifth-place game today at the University of West Georgia, where it will face Villa Rica at 1 p.m., while the Lady Tigers will take on rival Mt. Zion at 10 a.m. at The Coliseum in the seventh-place game.
Parson said his ball club needs to carry the second-half effort into this morning's contest and do so for the full 32 minutes.
"That's what it comes down to. We've got to be ready to play, because they're well-coached. Coach [Bill] Bailey does a great job. We've got to play harder," Parson said.
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