MARIETTA - The Kell Lady Longhorns connected on eight 3-pointers and held off the Bradwell Institute Lady Tigers 68-54 Tuesday night in the Class AAAAA girls state basketball quarterfinals.

The Lady Longhorns, ranked No. 2 in the state, improved to 24-5 and advance to the semifinals at the University of West Georgia. Bradwell, ranked No. 4 in the state, ends its season at 22-5.

Kell used a 15-5 run to open a 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. The advantage swelled to 30-12 on Kell’s sixth 3 of the first half.

Kell led 46-24 in the third quarter before the Lady Tigers began to try to slice into the lead.

Taniyah Bowman’s layup brought Bradwell to within 49-36, and Bailey Gilmore’s bucket in the paint drew the Lady Tigers to within eight.

That was as close as Bradwell got, as Kell stretched the lead back to 12 with its eighth 3 of the night.

Bradwell gave up a season-high in points in the loss. Kell, winners of 12 straight, had been outscoring opponents by an average of 22.5 points per game.

Kell will take on the winner of Union Grove-Jackson (Atlanta) on Friday in Carrollton.

See Thursday's edition of the Courier for more.