GAINESVILLE - Sophomore Kita Waller Tuesday night showed the Gainesville girls basketball team is no longer a one-girl show featuring Tasha Humphrey.
Waller poured in 10 of her 21 points in the final three minutes to propel the Lady Elephants to a 75-60 win over West Hall in both teams' Region 7-AAA South opener.
Waller was 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 51 seconds as the Lady Spartans (7-6, 0-1) tried to mount one rally after another.
Humphrey led all scorers with 25 points, but did not score in the final 5:12 of the game. Shamekkia Shirley added 13 for Gainesville (11-3, 1-0).
Paige Hanson led West Hall with 15 points. Lacey Bartlett and Martha Vital added 12 points each for the Lady Spartans.
Gainesville led just 21-17 at the end of the first quarterbut used a 14-2 run to start the second quarter to run out to a 35-19 lead.
The Lady Elephants pushed their lead to as many as 21 in the third quarter but then West Hall made one last run. The Lady Spartans used a 15-2 run of their own to trim the lead to 62-54 with 3:00 left in the game.
That's when Waller took over.
Friday
July 4th, 2025
4:49PM
