Girls basketball: Lady Wolves chew up North Hall

GAINESVILLE -- Buford used a 32-0 first half run en route to 59-25 blowout win over North Hall Tuesday in Region 7-AAA girls action.

After North Hall took its only lead at 3-2 on a Jordan Nix 3-pointer two minutes into the game, the Lady Wolves used a stifling pressing defense to force eight straight turnovers that they converted into 14 points to take control of the game.

Six different players scored during the outburst for Buford (12-3, 8-0 Region 7-AAA) and Kaela Davis tormented the North Hall offense with five steals in the run.

"The girls started fast and brought a lot of energy early in the game. I thought defensively we were very good and took North Hall out of their rhythm," Buford coach Gene Durden said about his defense.

It has been an emotional two weeks and the Lady Wolves were coming off a big win over then-second place Dawson County on the road. Durden said it was the first time in a while he had all his weapons available.

"All the parts were back together and that was nice to see and fun to watch," he said. "We talked to them about not having a letdown. They really responded well."

Neither team scored in the first 90 seconds until Buford's Maya Dillard drained a pair of free throws for a 2-0 lead. Nix would put North Hall ahead on her 3-pointer 20 seconds later and then the Lady Wolves exploded.

Buford would score on an amazing 11 consecutive possessions fueled by the defense, which picked off six passes leading to easy fastbreak layups. North Hall would not score again until early in the second quarter on a free throw by Kensi Gillespie to make it a 34-4 Buford lead.

North Hall (9-7, 3-4) would cut the lead to 34-10 on 3-pointers by Ansley Chester and Katie Sayres but Buford would close out the first half with a 5-0 run and a 39-10 halftime lead.

Buford would open the third quarter with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 47-10 but North Hall answered with a 9-0 run on three 3-pointers, one by Gillespie and two straight by Nix to cut it to 47-19.

That's as close as the Trojans would get. Buford closed out the third quarter with a 7-0 run for a 54-19 lead.

Davis finished with 15 points, and unofficially had five rebounds and seven steals for Buford, which had nine different players score. Bree Horrocks had 11 points and five rebounds. Carey Staples, Mackenzie Darrah, Camille Anderson, and Kristina Nelson had six points each for the Lady Wolves.

North Hall was led by Nix with nine points, all on 3-pointers. Sayres had six points on two 3-pointers. The Lady Trojans had just one two-point field goal in the game.

The Lady Wolves continued their dominance of Region 7-AAA. They came into winning by an average of nearly 30 points a game in region contests.

The loss for North Hall was its third straight in the region seventh in the last 11 games.