BUFORD — Buford’s girls were hardly hitting on all cylinders for their first-round game of the Class AA state tournament against Model.

But the Lady Wolves’ trademark defense helped keep the visiting Lady Devils at arm’s length in the first half before triggering a third-quarter run that blew the game open and lifted Buford to a 63-43 win Saturday.

Buford’s defense forced the Lady Devils (16-12) into 41 turnovers overall.

Model, which lost to Buford in last year’s Class AA finals, committed 22 turnovers in the opening 16 minutes of Saturday’s game, including 12 in the second quarter alone.

“We haven’t face the kind of pressure that Buford brings all year,” Model coach Sally Echols said. “(Buford) persevered and continued to wear on us. We responded in the first and second quarters, but we didn’t respond as well in the third quarter. That was the difference.”

Buford’s Andraya Carter finished with a game-high 22 points, plus six rebounds and five steals. Alysha Rudnik added 15 points.

For Model, freshmen Karlee Akin scored a team-high 12 points, and fellow Timia Reynolds added 10.

Buford’s lead was only 14-11 after the first quarter after Karlee Akin beat the buzzer with a half-court heave.

And when Akin hit a pair of free throws, Model was within 20-17 with just 1:22 left in the first half.

But Carter connected on a 3-pointer with 1:07 left in the half and then finished a 7-1 run with a pullup jumper from the foul line to beat the buzzer and sent Buford into intermission with a 27-18 lead.

“We had trouble scoring starting out,” said Buford coach Gene Durden, whose Wolves (25-4) will take on either Crawford County or Walnut Grove in the second round Wednesday night. “It kind of affected our kids mentally. But we kept fighting and relied on what we’ve relied on all year — our defense.”

But it was the third quarter in which the Wolves fully came to life, especially Carter and Rudnik.

Carter hit another jumper and a stickback in the opening 42 seconds of the second half.

The latter was off a steal by Rudnik, who also added a layup and a 3-pointer to cap a run of nine straight Buford points over the opening 1:48 of the third quarter that stretched the lead to 36-18.

“We didn’t feel like we played as strong as we could have in the first half,” Rudnik said. “We wanted to come out and hit them hard like we should have in the first half and finish our shots.”

Model, which got a team-high 12 points from Akin and 10 more from Timia Reynolds, never came any closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

MODEL (43)

Karlee Akin 12, Timia Reynolds 10, Lauren Shields 8, Kaylee Akin 5, Bekah Sapp 4, Janaye Jasper 4.

BUFORD (63)

Carter 22, Rudnik 15, Harrison 7, Tate 6, Williams 6, Pass 5, Darrah 2.

Model 11 7 10 15 — 43

Buford 14 13 24 12 — 63

3-Pointers — Model 3 (Shields 1, Kar. Akin 1, Kay. Akin 1); Buford 6 (Carter 2, Tate 2, Rudnik 1, Pass 1). Free throws — Model 16-24; Buford 3-19. Records — Model 16-12; Buford 25-4.