GAINESVILLE — Are the East Hall girls beginning to peak at just the right time?
Lady Vikings coach Justin Wheeler sure “hopes so” after watching his squad dispatch North Hall 77-70 Thursday night in a key Region 7-AAA contest for both teams.
The East Hall boys made it a road sweep rallying in the second half for a 59-54 victory.
It was the fifth straight win for the Lady Vikings (12-8, 5-2 Region 7-AAA) who pulled within 1 1/2-games of first place Greater Atlanta Christian with the victory.
“I really hope we are because this is the time of year when you want to start playing your best,” Wheeler said. “I thought we played very well for most of the game.”
It didn’t hurt that senior guard Carly Winters poured in a career-high 42 points, including a new school-record 12 3-pointers, breaking her own mark of 11 set earlier in the season.
Winters helped set the tone with five first quarter 3-pointers, including three straight on consecutive possessions, to give the Lady Vikings an 18-5 lead. They never trailed and North Hall (9-10, 3-4) never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
“After I hit the first couple I started to feel it and they kept telling me to shoot,” said Winters, who hit her first three treys and went 12-of-19 from 3-point range on the night. "This was a big win for us. I think we're starting to play the way we think we can as a team."
Defensively, however, is where Wheeler feels his team is beginning to make the strides necessary for any kind of playoff run. They held North Hall to just three first quarter field goals while building a 24-11 lead. The Lady Trojans managed just 12 points in the fourth quarter.
“Defense I think has been the reason for our win streak right now,” he said. “We had stretches where I thought we played very, very well. But, there is still room to grow.”
East Hall built a 40-25 second quarter lead before taking a 42-31 advantage into the intermission. North Hall trimmed it to 46-38 early in the third quarter on a Lauren Swanson basket but the Lady Vikings answered with a 13-0 run, forcing four Lady Trojan turnovers and extending the lead to 59-38.
North Hall opened the fourth quarter with a 9-3 run to close to 65-55, but Winters’ final 3-pointer made it 70-57 and the Lady Trojans got only as close as the final score.
Jenny Lopez added 14 points for East Hall.
Camilla Howell paced North Hall with 21 points, 14 coming in the second half. Ansleigh Ferguson had 15 points and Swanson finished with 10 points for the Lady Trojans.
EAST HALL BOYS 59,
NORTH HALL 54
The Vikings stayed within striking distance of first place Dawson County with a tough, come-from-behind win over rival North Hall in Region 7-AAA action.
It was a crucial victory for East Hall (11-8, 6-1 Region 7-AAA) which was playing without leading scorer Luke Cooper for a second consecutive game. They are one-half game ahead of Greater Atlanta Christian for second place.
And the Vikings offense looked out of sync early against a spirited North Hall (7-12, 2-5) defense. East Hall coach Joe Dix said it was a combination of things.
“We’re still trying to find our way right now but North Hall had a lot to do with that. They played excellent defense,” Dix said.
The Trojans led for nearly 15 minutes of the 16 minute first half using a 12-2 run to build a 14-6 lead capped by a Logan McDaniel basket. North Hall pushed the lead to 26-17 late in the second quarter on another McDaniel basket.
But East Hall finally began to find its stroke in the final two minutes of the half as Luke Holtzclaw buried back-to-back 3-pointers to highlight a 10-4 run to get the Vikings within 30-27 by halftime.
In the third quarter Deonte Evans sparked a 15-4 run East Hall run, scoring nine consecutive points at one stretch as they caught and passed North Hall to grab a 42-34 lead. The Vikings would not trail again.
“We’re asking Deonte to be a little more aggressive and he gave us a big lift there,” Dix said. “We just found a way to win.”
But the momentum changed one more time to end the third quarter when Holtzclaw and North Hall’s J.T. Fair got tangled up and then ignited a near-brawl between the teams. Holtzclaw and Fair, and the Vikings’ Austin Brock, who came off the bench, all were ejected.
North Hall used that as a spark to pull within 53-50 late in the fourth quarter. But a huge basket by Sedrion Morse and two free throws by Kylan Curry in the final minute helped seal the win for the Vikings.
Holtzclaw finished with 14 points to lead East Hall. Evans and Qua Butler each had 13 points and Curry chipped in 9 for the Vikings.
Noah Holman paced North Hall with 19 points. McDaniel finished with a career-high 15 points and Daniel Jackson had 8 points for the Trojans.
NOTES: Holtzclaw, Brock and Fair all will miss their teams’ next two games because of the ejections. ... The Vikings next two games are against ranked teams in Class AAA in Jenkins (Savannah) and GAC. ... North Hall’s next two games are against region opponents Fannin County and Union County on the road.
