DAWSONVILLE — For the first 10 minutes Thursday night, the Flowery Branch girls looked like a team coming off a state championship game appearance.
For the final 22 minutes, Dawson County looked like a team that was ready to show it is capable of its own future playoff run.
The Lady Tigers shook off an early Lady Falcons blitz and pulled away in the second half for a 65-57 win at the Dawson County gym in both teams’ season openers.
Flowery Branch (0-1) stormed out of the locker room opening the game with an 11-0 burst in the first two minutes. The Falcons had four different players contribute as they pushed the ball in their patented up-tempo offense off a slew of early Dawson County misses and four turnovers.
Caroline Wysocki had five points, including a long 3-pointer, and an assist in the opening barrage. Ashley Woodroffe converted a pair of fastbreak baskets and also dished out an assist after a steal.
The Lady Falcons hit 6 of their first 7 shots while Dawson County missed its first four. Flowery Branch also used a quick pressing defense to force seven first-quarter turnovers as the Lady Falcons led 18-5 at one point.
“We played the first few minutes the way they know how,” Flowery Branch coach Courtney Newton-Gonzalez said. “But they didn’t step up after that. I was very disappointed with how they kind of seemed to relax after getting the big lead. You can’t beat good teams doing that.”
Flowery Branch turned a dozen first-half Dawson County turnovers into 14 points. The Lady Falcons had just five turnovers in the first half.
But Dawson County senior sharp-shooter and Clemson-commit Kaylee Sticker kept the Lady Tigers in the game draining a pair of 3-pointers as they closed the gap to 23-13 by the end of the first quarter. But three more turnovers helped the Lady Falcons pull away for a 29-14 lead, their biggest of the half, with six minutes left.
It was almost all Dawson County (1-0) after that.
A Sticker 3-pointer sparked an eventual 14-4 run over the final six minutes of the half as Dawson County pulled within 33-28 by halftime. Dawson County opened the third quarter with a 15-2 run as a Sophia D’Oliveira 3-pointer gave the Lady Tigers their first lead of the game at 35-33. A Mariah Benson stick-back basket pushed it to 43-35 with just under a minute left in the third quarter.
Dawson County coach Steve Sweat said once they survived the opening barrage his group began to settle down.
“I think there were some first-game nerves and stuff at the beginning. But I called a timeout and just said that if they would play some defense we could get back in it,” Sweat said. “I thought we played pretty well after those first few minutes.”
Sticker, who finished with a game-high 31 points, including six 3-pointers, continued to ignite the Lady Tigers, who outscored Flowery Branch 51-28 over the final 22 minutes.
“Kaylee is good enough to do that every night,” Sweat said. “The big thing for me is that we were able to beat a team like Flowery Branch, especially with it being our first game. That’s a really good team. It was a good test for both teams to start the season.”
The Lady Falcons did pull within 46-44 early in the fourth quarter on a 9-3 run sparked by Wysocki. The Lady Tigers stretched their lead back to 53-45 but Wysocki scored five straight points and Woodroffe added a 3-pointer to tie the game at 53 with 3:20 left.
Sticker and Woodroffe would trade 3-pointers to make it 58-57 Dawson County but the Lady Tigers scored the final seven points over the final 1:48 to seal the victory.
Woodroffe finished with 24 points and Wysocki had 23 points for Flowery Branch. However, the Lady Falcons were just 12-of-23 from the free throw line.
D’Oliveira added 9 points, 7 in the second half, for Dawson County.
DAWSON COUNTY BOYS 73,
FLOWERY BRANCH 25
Flowery Branch took the opening lead on a stick-back basket by Brandon Williams but that would the lone bright spot for the young Falcons.
Dawson County responded with a 21-0 run to grab the lead for good. The Tigers (1-0) led 26-3 after the first quarter and 58-8 at halftime.
Jasper Gibson paced Dawson County with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Campbell Reed added 18 points, Luke Chism 14, and Eli Burrus 10 for the Tigers.
Trey Shaw led Flowery Branch (0-1) with 7 points. Williams and Mario Brown had 6 points each for the Falcons.
