GAINESVILLE — Just hours before a scheduled meeting with rival North Hall in a key Region 7-AAA game Tuesday, the East Hall girls found themselves atop the region standings without having to play a game.
The Lady Vikings played like front-runners trailing just once and using a 13-0 run in the first quarter to grab control and then go on to a 54-44 victory over the Lady Trojans at Valhalla.
East Hall coach Justin Wheeler found out in the early afternoon that their appeal to the GHSA about an ineligible player used by Greater Atlanta Christian in their loss to the Lady Spartans last month was accepted, pushing the Lady Vikings to the top of Region 7-AAA.
“We noticed it after the game (at that time) and we found out today,” Wheeler said. “It gives us a cushion for later in the season.”
After Sadie Cleveland gave North Hall a 2-0 on the first possession of the game, East Hall took control.
The Lady Vikings (12-6, 7-0 Region 7-AAA) answered that opening basket with a 13-0 run powered by six points from Kylah Mize, who also went over the 1,000-point plateau for her career on her third basket of the first quarter to give East Hall a 13-2 lead. North Hall battled back to trail 13-5 after the first quarter.
"I just play on the court," Mize said. I do the best I can for my team."
The Lady Trojans (11-9, 4-4) chipped away into the second quarter with Macy Gillespie capping a 7-2 run to pull within 15-9. But Carly Winters scored a pair of baskets in a 15-second span to pull East Hall back out to a 19-9 lead. A Taylor Anne Kelley steal and layup late in the second quarter pulled North Hall back within 24-18 but the Lady Vikings took a 26-19 lead into halftime.
East Hall kept the pressure on in the third quarter with Macy Thomas draining a 3-pointer to cap a quick 5-0 run for a 31-19 lead, its biggest of the game at the time. The Lady Vikings extended the lead to 40-25 on a Winters 3-pointer.
North Hall’s Tatum McQuillen kept the Lady Trojans in the game scoring eight straight points in the third and fourth quarters to trim the lead to 42-33 just a minute into the final period.
But the Lady Vikings answered back behind Mize and Winters to pull back out to a 50-36 lead midway through the fourth quarter. North Hall only got as close as 10 points the rest of the way.
"That was a big win for us," Wheeler said. "It was a rivalry game and that's always a competitive game."
Winters finished with 22 points and six rebounds and Mize added 18 points and four rebounds to pace East Hall.
Kelley led North Hall with 15 points despite playing the entire second half in foul trouble. McQuillen added 11 points for the Lady Trojans. Cleveland was held to just six points.
EAST HALL BOYS 73,
NORTH HALL 54
East Hall used a 13-4 run to open the second quarter to erase a North Hall en route to the key Region 7-AAA victory.
The win kept East Hall (12-6, 6-1 Region 7-AAA) in second place in the region standings.
"We needed this one," East Hall coach Joe Dix said. "Defensively I thought is where we really played well."
The Trojans jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead behind Luke Cooper but the Trojans answered back with an 11-5 spurt to grab the lead and then a Jake Meeler stick-back basket pushed North Hall’s lead to 17-14 by the end of the first quarter.
The Vikings exploded for a 10-2 run to start the second quarter and a Luke Holtzclaw 3-pointer gave them a 27-21 lead midway through the period. The Trojans responded behind Meeler pulling within 33-31 but a Mahki Brown 3-pointer in the final minute closed out the scoring for a 38-31 East Hall halftime lead.
North Hall (11-9, 4-4) came out strong in the third quarter and got within 42-38 on a Taylor Hanson 3-pointer. But the Vikings answered with a 15-4 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Deonta Evans and Cooper, for a 57-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Trojans never got closer than 13 the rest of the way and Sedrion Morse scored seven straight points for East Hall as the Vikings pulled away in the final three minutes.
Cooper finished with 18 points to lead the Vikings. Morse added 15 points, Brown had 13, and Tony Martinez poured in 12 as 10 different East Hall players scored.
Meeler paced North Hall with 12 points but did not score in the second half. Griffin Neville picked up the slack scoring all eight of his points in the second half for the Trojans. Hanson also had eight points and Noah Holman, Alden Lewallen, and Justin Rabb each finished with seven points for North Hall.
