RALEIGH — Athens coach Chris Danehower said Thursday’s showdown with Garner was a typical game between the two former conference rivals. Only this time around, the result was atypical for the Jaguars.

Garner downed Athens 54-50 at Holliday Gym in the semifinals of the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational, snapping the Jags’ five-game winning streak against the Trojans.

“We made a few mistakes,” Danehower said. “We weren’t in sync early. But I thought our defense really helped us get back in the game.”

While their defense helped close the gap, a poor showing at the free-throw line (8-of-18) and too many turnovers (27 total; 14 Garner steals) denied Athens the chance to play for the tournament championship.

“That’s unusual,” Danehower said of the 44 percent effort at the line. “We’re usually up around 70 percent. I think last game we had 79 percent. That definitely was a difference in the game. We left 10 points at the foul line. It’s probably not reasonable to expect to make all of those, but if you make half of the ones you missed, we win.”

As for the turnovers, Danehower said: “That’s been something that’s plagued us. We’ve had some games where we did a lot better job taking care of the ball. And we’ve talked about that.”

Despite the free throws and turnovers, Athens had every chance to win.

The Jags were sluggish through the first half but managed to find their groove in the third quarter because they started taking care of the ball. Over the final 5:10, Athens had one turnover and turned a seven-point deficit into a tie game.

“We just wanted to win so bad,” said Athens forward Alys Ingram (14 points). “We just clicked. We never gave up after that.”

Forward Chareya Smith (11 points, eight rebounds) gave the Jags a 44-42 lead — their first since late in the first quarter — with 6:34 to play. Garner responded with a 7-0 run.

Athens cut the Trojans’ lead to 52-50 with 20 seconds left after Smith made the front end of a one-and-one. She missed the second, but Ingram grabbed the rebound and was fouled on the perimeter.

With the chance to tie, Ingram missed the one-and-one with 10 seconds left.

With six seconds to play, Garner’s Kesheria McNeil made two free throws to put the game out of reach and exact a measure of revenge. In each of the last two seasons, Athens ended Garner’s year in the state playoffs.

“I didn’t have to talk to them because they knew that feeling,” said Garner coach Hardrick Mays. “We knew if we got past them last year, we’re in the states, possibly playing for a state championship. They took that dream away.”

The Jags were to play McDowell County in the Holiday Invitational consolation game Saturday (results were not available at press time). Athens (5-5) hopes to build some momentum from the tournament and take it into Tri-Eight play.

“This is good for us to play good as a team against a really tough team and keep fighting,” Ingram said. “At the end, we kept fighting. They just had a couple more plays. But we didn’t give up.”