One basket, one rebound, one call might have been the difference — but in the end, the Bremen High School girls' basketball team was two points and two seconds shy in the final of the West Georgia Holiday Classic on Saturday night, dropping a 42-40 contest to champion Paulding County at The Coliseum on the campus of the University of West Georgia.

For the Lady Blue Devils (7-3), it was the second game in as many nights that came down to the wire, and when Keshia Shy made a layup with two seconds left, they were on the wrong side this time around.

"It's tough, especially two nights back-to-back. We were on the good end [Friday] night and then came up on the bad end [Saturday]. It's tough. I told the girls that I'm not very proud of the outcome, but proud of the way we played. We didn't execute some plays. I told them I made some mistakes, we all made some mistakes and things didn't go our way that could have helped us in the end. It's a learning experience that hopefully we can use as the season goes on," Bremen coach Kathy Matthews said.

Jordan Hill accounted for more than half the Bremen offense, scoring a game-high 23 points and grabbing six rebounds in the loss en route to all-tournament honors.

"She was very determined [Saturday]. She wanted it badly. That's what you want from one of your leaders, to try and get everyone else to rally around. She gave it her all," Matthews said.

The Lady Blue Devils held a four-point halftime lead and held on for a three-point lead after three quarters, but it was just too much tournament MVP Jenny Vernet, who went for a 16-point, 17-rebound double-double.

Joining Hill and Vernet with all-tournament recognition was Mt. Zion's Jordan Crews, Charmin Moore (Temple), Britney Wright (Villa Rica), Savannah Sewell (Rockmart), Hayley Sims (Central), Jacole Stephens (Bowdon) and Shy.

Now Bremen will have a short break before it suits back up for the Haralson County Invitational Tournament, beginning next Thursday when it will face Central — again — in the first round.

"We can't dwell on it too long. We have to be able to take a deep breath, relax on it a few days and then come back to work and get ready for a tough opponent — Central again. It's tough to beat a team two times, but hopefully we can get it done," Matthews said.