Cartersville let Murray County hang around, but it turned on the offense in the third quarter and then fought back a fourth-quarter push by the home team to claim a 62-50 victory.
Leading the Lady Purple Hurricanes offensively were Stefanie Will, with 12, Kaelyn Irby, 19, and Adrienne Green, 10.
"[Murray] hit a couple of 3s in the first period and we'd pull away from them, then they would ease back up and we'd pull away again," head coach Donna Enis said. "We finally took care of business and got the win in the fourth quarter."
The Lady Canes led 15-14 after a quarter, 29-23 at the half, and 46-27 after three quarters.
Will also had four steals, two rebounds and one assist; O'Connor scored 6 points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal; Kea Garnigan, 6 points, six rebounds, three assists; Irby, six rebounds, nine assists and three steals; Green, nine rebounds and three steals; D'Yasmine Richards, 7 points, four rebounds; and Tereka Mostella, 2 points.
Cartersville (12-4, 3-1 in Region 7B-AAA) next plays Friday, when it hosts Pickens County. The loss dropped Murray to 6-13, 1-3 in the region.
Gordon Lee 70, Excel 31
Gordon Lee exploded for 23 first-quarter points against 6 for Excel, then allowed a deuce on its way to scoring 19 to start on a 70-31 victory Tuesday night against the Bartow private school.
The Lady Eagles tried to make a comeback in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 12-11, but couldn't finish their objective in the final period, when they were outscored 17-11.
"I was proud of the way our girls played," head coach Michael Roberson said. "We knew they were a very good team, and we talked about playing hard regardless. Our girls never quit and kept trying to do whatever was necessary to catch them.
"But Gordon Lee has a rich, rich, rich tradition of playing good basketball and tonight they showed they are a championship-caliber team. They kept doing what they were coached to do."
Bekah Bell led the Lady Eagles with 7 points -- the third consecutive game she has been the offensive leader.
Roberson said Bekah has been one of the Lady Eagles stepping up her game as opponents have zeroed in on Walker Bell, the team's point guard and leader.
"Bekah has been doing a good job for us and she did a good one tonight."
He said the Lady Eagles should try to learn from Tuesday night's loss and move on.
"We have some more good teams ahead, starting Friday with Darlington," he said. "I'm anxious to see how we respond to this because we play another good team in Darlington. We can learn a lot from this, but I'm proud of our effort tonight."
The win improves Gordon Lee to 16-2 overall and 2-1 in Region 6A-A.
Excel's record now stands at 4-12, 0-2 in the region.