Mills Godwin coach Louise Foley admitted she can be hard at times on her daughter, starting guard Michelle Foley.

Following last night's opening semifinal of the Central Region girls basketball tournament, Coach Foley described her daughter's play through three quarters as "awful." Then Foley made a deal with Foley.

"I told her I'd leave her alone, but you have to start playing. She had made some bad decisions," the coach said.

Said daughter, "I was struggling. I started playing better."

The entire Eagles team started playing better. Down three to Thomas Dale after three quarters, Godwin outscored the Knights 20-4 in the fourth quarter and rolled to a 54-41 victory before a crowd of about 1,000 at the Siegel Center.

The Eagles earned a berth in the region championship game Monday at 6 p.m. against L.C. Bird, a 53-33 winner over Monacan last night. The final is a rematch of last year's game. Bird won. Both teams advanced to the state Group AAA tournament quarterfinals March 8 against the representatives from the Northwest Region.

Taylor Bradley drilled a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to give Thomas Dale a 37-34 lead going into the final eight minutes. The Knights got the ball to start the fourth quarter but committed a turnover.

Foley hit two free throws, scored off a feed by Sallie Foster, after Dale's Rashida Scott made one of two free throws, then knocked down a 3-pointer that gave the Eagles a 41-38 lead.

"That was a huge three," Eagles guard Maggie Roy said. "We stepped it up even harder after that and completely changed."

Thomas Dale managed just four free throws in the fourth quarter. Kalia Johnson, who scored 14 points in the first half, managed one in the second.

"We knew they had three good guards. We put our best three -- Maggie, Brooke [Long] and Sallie -- on them, and we switched a lot, " M. Foley said.

The Eagles also rebounded better. The Knights, especially Johnson, got a number of second chances in the first half. Not in the second.

"Coach told us we needed to crash the boards, and that's what we did," Roy said.

Said Thomas Dale coach Kevin Coffey, "They boxed us out well. They were very disciplined and executed well."

The college-sized floor (94 feet vs. 84 in high school gyms) also affected the Knights as the game progressed. This was Thomas Dale's first appearance at the Siegel Center.

"We knew they liked to run, but we're in good shape and we tried to outrun them to make them tired," M. Foley said.

The strategy worked.

"We got winded and got lackadaisical on defense," Coffey said.

Foley led the Eagles with 17 points. Roy, who guided the Eagles with poise, scored 16

Alyssa Frye added 11 points for the Knights.

THOMAS DALE (21-6)

Frye 11, Johnson 15, Bradley 5, Brown 0, Curley 1, Salyer 0, An. Hobbs 3, Scott 2, Al. Hobbs 4, Jones 0. Totals 13 12-17 41.
MILLS GODWIN (25-3)

Walker 0, Foley 17, Nichols 5, Roy 16, Long 4, Foster 5, Sisson 0, Withrow 7. Totals 18 14-17 54.
Thomas Dale ------------------------- 11 13 13 4 -- 41
Mills Godwin ------------------------- 14 9 11 20 -- 54

3-point goals: TD -- Frye, Bradley, An. Hobbs. MG Foley 3, Foster.