RICHMOND – Basketball championships are decided by which team can consistently put the ball in the basket.

George Wythe did Friday. Buffalo Gap did not.

The Bison fell doom to achieving a Class 1 girls basketball state championship with cold shooting in clutch situations as the Maroons walked off with the trophy after a 50-44 victory at VCU's Siegel Center.

The second quarter was the pivotal eight minutes of the game. The Bison had wiped out an early 10-4 deficit for a 17-all deadlock after the first period. However, the Maroons bridged the two quarters with a 15-2 outburst, opening a 10-point lead from which Gap never recovered.

Gap shot only 23.1 percent in the second quarter, hitting just three of 13 attempts to trail 33-25 at the break.

Those eight minutes essentially summed up the remaining 16 when Gap netted just 19 points. For the game, the Bison only connected on 14-of-44 from the field, including 4-of-17 from behind the arc, for 31.8 percent compared to Wythe's 40 percent.

The Bison were also hampered by the lack of a balanced scoring attack. Hannah Coffman and Kayleigh Hemp each scored 21 for 42 of the team's 44. Bailey Tribble had the other two points during the Maroons' game-breaking 15-2 run.

Gap had battled back to take a 17-14 lead late in the first quarter, but junior Makaylan Luttrell bombed a tying 3 with 20 seconds left.

Luttrell opened the second period with another 3 and sophomore Caroline Harris followed suit for a 23-17 lead at the 5:37 mark.

The advantage grew to 10 at 29-19 when sophomore point guard Alana Malavolti drained a 3 at the 3:54 mark.

The Bison managed to chip just two points off the deficit to trail 33-25 at the break.

“We didn't get out as well on their shooters, while offensively we didn't get settled down to get good shots,” Buffalo Gap head coach Phillip Morgan said. “We just didn't get into a flow and didn't get pressure out on their shooters. They began hitting shots and that's a deadly combination.”

After falling behind 10-4 midway of the first quarter, the Bison went on a 13-4 run. Hemp had 12 of the points, including a pair of 3s and a natural three-point play. Her second 3 had given Gap its first lead of the game at 16-14. Coffman added a free throw for 17-14, but that was it for the Bison. They only led for that 1:07 span in the game. The Maroons led for 27:42 and the game was tied for 3:11.

The Bison made one final charge late in the third quarter when Hemp and Coffman combined for all eight points during an 8-2 surge that sliced the deficit to 40-37 with 1:33 remaining.

But just like earlier in the game, the Maroons hit the clutch shots. Luttrell ripped her fourth 3 of the game and Cline had a driving layup with 32 seconds left to regain the eight-point advantage from halftime at 45-37.

Just seconds earlier Coffman had to exit the game after going down with a knee scare, but that wasn't going to keep the senior out for long.

“I'm not going to give up on anything,” she said. “When I went out, I told the trainer 'just put some tape on it and put me back out there.' I think it showed a lot as far as the person I am.”

The Maroons, who hadn't won the state title since 1989 and lost their last two appearances, immediately started milking the clock in the fourth quarter.

Coffman scored the first four points of the period, which cut the deficit to 45-41, but Harris hit the only shot Wythe took and two free throws put the Maroons safely ahead 49-41 with 54.8 seconds left.

Morgan said coming out to pressure the Maroons in the fourth quarter was a tough call.

“That's a real tricky thing because you don't want to come out too early because it was still only about six points,” he said. “There were a couple times where they threw it away, and that threw us off. We just never got adjusted to that.

“They are a good shooting team and they find ways to get the ball to the right shooter,” Morgan said. “We just didn't capitalize the way we should have today. It came back to hurt us.”

Coffman, Karah Richie and Rachael Carter ended their Bison careers with two state runner-up finishes and two one-point losses in the state semifinals.

“Those three have meant so much to me to come in as freshmen and put that work in over the next three years,” Morgan said. “It shows a lot about them in their determination and their dedication to it. I'm super proud of the seniors.”

But Morgan admitted at the start of the season even the coaches weren't sure they would be back in the state tournament much less playing for a championship.

“Nobody thought we would be here back on Nov. 11 [first practice], and I might include the coaches. We had a lot of losses to cover, so we weren't sure where we stood. The girls worked hard every day and got better each practice. We got back here and gave it a shot. I am super proud of these ladies.”

The Bison finished with a 22-5 record after having their eight-game win streak snapped. Wythe won its last 14 games to close a 27-3 championship campaign.

The three seniors aren't the only losses Morgan will have to cover next season. The Hemp sisters Kayleigh and freshman Lexi leave Sunday for their new home in the Tampa, Florida, area. That's five of the top seven in his rotation.

But that is a next year issue. For now the Bison will have the last four years to relish.

Kayleigh Hemp, who also grabbed five rebounds, said Coffman's courage in the fourth quarter will be something she will never forget.

“When she came back in, she told us 'we are not giving up right now,'” Hemp said. “Even though we were down, she told us to keep going.”

Coffman left a parting message.

“It really meant a lot because we are such a small school,” said Coffman, who finished her final game with the 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, eight steals and one block on top of being of school's fourth-leading scorer all-time. “We have proven we might be a small school, but our program is tough enough to take on anybody and be successful.”

Those are powerful words for the next wave of Bison to build on.

GEORGE WYTHE (50) – Luttrell 4-7 1-2 13, Berry 0-6 3-6 3, Harris 3-8 1-2 9, Malavolti 5-10 1-2 13, Morris 0-0 2-2 2, Cline 3-8 2-4 8, Davis 1-1 0-0 2, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Faulkner 0-0 0-0 0, Mullins 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS 16-40 10-18 50.

BUFFALO GAP (44) – Richie 0-3 0-2 0, Tribble 1-3 0-1 2, K.Hemp 7-14 4-5 21, Carter 0-4 0-0 0, Coffman 6-17 8-12 21, R.Showalter 0-2 0-0 0, Pierce 0-1 0-0 0, A.Hemp 0-0 0-0 0, Woods 0-0 0-0 0, Caricofe 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS 14-44 12-20 44.