GAINESVILLE - It's probably been years since Chestatee girls basketball coach Web Daniel displayed the vertical leap he let loose Tuesday night.
Daniel and the rest of the Lady War Eagles celebrated en masse with one huge jump as they watched the clock tick down on their impressive 50-44 upset of Class AAA third-ranked and previously unbeaten East Hall at the Chestatee gym.
"I looked a little foolish at the end but it was just a bunch of emotions for all of us that came out at the end," Daniel said. "We feel like we have a good team but we needed a win over a team like East Hall for us to feel like we can compete against the best. I can't say enough about the entire team and how they stepped up."
Chestatee led nearly throughout taking a 13-12 lead in the second quarter and never letting go. The win, easily the biggest in the history of the program, now has the Lady War Eagles (12-7, 3-2 in Region 7A-AAA) in a position to win out for a shot at the top seed in the subregion.
Chestatee plays host to Lumpkin County Friday night. Chestatee and East Hall will close out the regular season at East Hall next month.
Despite taking a 66-45 win over Chestatee in the Lanierland Tournament final last month, East Hall coach Allen Pritchett said they were not taking them lightly.
"We knew they were good and that if we didn't play at our best they could beat us. They did all the little things you need to do to win. Give them a lot of credit," Pritchett said. "We didn't execute on offense like we have been, due to their defense, and we lacked the kind of intensity we had earlier in the year."
Chestatee led 9-8 after a defensive-minded first quarter and led 19-15 at halftime courtesy of an 8-3 run over the final three minutes.
They Lady War Eagles came out smoking in the third quarter using a 6-1 run over the first three minutes to run out to a 25-16 lead and took a 35-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
Chestatee extended it to 45-28 with 2:30 left in the game after hitting five of six free throws. But the Lady Vikings (18-1, 4-1) finally got their offense going.
Lisa Coleman, who had 14 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter, scored eight straight points, capped by two consecutive 3-pointers, to draw East Hall to within 48-44 with just 40 seconds left.
Chestatee would miss two free throws seconds later but East Hall missed on its next 3-point attempt and Julianne Worley, who had all eight of her points in the second half, drained two free throws with 15.3 seconds left to ice the game.
The telling story for East Hall was that its top three post players - Jennifer Harris, Dreka Wheeler and Sada Wheeler - were held to a combined and season-low five points for the game.
"That was the difference," Daniel said. "We are one of the few teams that can match up with their size. We did defensively what we need to do to beat them."
Tiffany Marlow and Jaymee Carnes each had 15 points to lead Chestatee.
Friday
February 21st, 2025
5:46PM
