GAINESVILLE — After a 22-day layoff because of the Christmas break and weather postponements, the Habersham Central girls offense figured to be a little rusty.
Which made it a bad time to be facing No. 10 Gainesville and its tenacious pressure defense in a key Region 8-AAAAAA game Thursday night at the Gainesville gym.
The Lady Red Elephants took advantage, forcing 19 turnovers and using two big runs fueled by their press to hold off the Lady Raiders, 62-57.
The win helped Gainesville (10-3, 2-0 Region 8-AAAAAA) keep pace with No. 2 Winder-Barrow in the region. The two teams will square off on Friday in Winder for first place.
“We needed a win because we have a tough one (on Friday),” Gainesville coach Brenda Hill-Gilmore said. “I feel like we’re headed in the right direction. I liked what we did on defense.”
It was a slow start for both teams with the first five combined possessions resulting in three turnovers and two missed shots in the first two minutes.
Habersham’s Lainey Gosnell would end the drought with a steal and layup and then added another basket moments later for a 4-0 lead for the Lady Raiders.
Gosnell would score Habersham’s with first six points and helped the Lady Raiders run out to a 12-7 lead. Gainesville answered with a 5-0 run, capped by a Taylor Hawks 3-pointer to end the first quarter to tie the game at 12.
Habersham opened the second quarter with a 6-2 run for an 18-14 lead. But the Lady Red Elephants turned to their pressure defense to take control.
Gainesville forced five straight turnovers and six in seven Habersham possessions to spark a 14-0 run, capped by a Tija Blackwell 3-pointer to pull away for a 28-18 lead with just over three minutes left in the half.
Hill-Gilmore said they were counting on their defense to help them ease back into things after playing just their second game since Dec. 30.
“We take pride in our defense and we knew we needed use our defense to get something going,” Hill-Gilmore said. “We haven’t played much the last two weeks either so it was good to get out there.”
The Lady Raiders (12-4, 0-1) climbed back in the game with an 8-3 run, fueled by six points from Gosnell, to trail 31-26 late in the second quarter. But Gainesville hit three free throws in the final 25 seconds to take a 34-26 lead into halftime.
Gainesville forced 14 Habersham turnovers in the first half. Gainesville had three turnovers in the first three minutes but had just three more over the final 13 minutes of the first half.
The Habersham offense looked much more in sync to start the third quarter and got back in the game in the third quarter by taking care of the ball. After a sloppy second quarter with nine turnovers, the Lady Raiders did not commit a turnover in the third quarter and forced five Gainesville miscues.
Gainesville led 37-27 before Habersham used its own defense to spark a 16-6 run over the third and fourth quarters. Gosnell hit a 3-pointer near the end of the third period to pull within 43-42 and then she opened the fourth quarter with five straight points for a 47-43 Lady Raiders lead. A Gosnell assist on a Alley Parham basket gave them a 49-45 lead with 6:13 left.
But Gainesville again turned to its defense over the next three minutes. The Lady Red Elephants press forced three straight Habersham turnovers to spark an 11-0 run to reclaim the lead at 56-49 with just over three minutes left.
Habersham pulled within 60-57 on another Gosnell 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds left but Hawks hit a pair of free throws with 3.0 seconds left to seal the victory.
Hawks and Tia Shelton each had 16 points to pace Gainesville. Sydney Payne added eight, with three big stick-back baskets in the second half.
Hill-Gilmore said finding consistent scorers will be a key over the second half of the season.
“Tia played really well and she is starting to understand what we want her to do,” Hill-Gilmore said. “We need a few more girls to start contributing more. But I think we’re improving.”
Gosnell finished with a game-high 29 points, 17 in the second half, to lead Habersham. McKenzie McDuffie added 10 for the Lady Raiders.
Habersham will play host to Dacula on Friday in another Region 8-AAAAAA contest.
GAINESVILLE BOYS 80,
HABERSHAM CENTRAL 33
The No. 1 Red Elephants jumped on the out-manned Raiders right from the start en route to the lopsided win.
Gainesville (15-0, 2-0 Region 8-AAAAAA) led 11-0 before Habersham’s Bryce Tanner hit a 3-pointer for their first points two minutes into the game. The Red Elephants then exploded for a 21-2 run into the second quarter for a 32-5 lead.
The big story for Gainesville was the return of junior K.J. Buffen, who missed the past month with an ankle injury. He finished with nine points in limited action.
“It felt good to finally get out there,” Buffen said. “I’m not feeling any pain right now.”
Gainesville took a 53-17 lead into halftime and then extended it 72-26 heading into halftime to invoke a 6-minute clock for the final period.
Senior Michael White led 12 Red Elephant scorers with 17 points. Bailey Minor finished with 14, Xavier Bledson had 10, and Jarred Rosser eight for Gainesville.
Gainesville coach Benjie Wood was pleased with how his heavily-favored team started strong.
“These guys are doing a good job of coming out and taking care of business,” Wood said. “They play hard and they don’t worry about the scoreboard. We’re still just trying to get better every game.”
Tanner led Habersham Central (1-14, 0-1) with 11 points in his first action of the season after returning from an injury suffered during football season.
