GAINESVILLE — Bobby Pless, like all of the rest of the West Hall boys team, breathed a sigh of relief not long after the Spartans held off Chestatee Tuesday night for a much-needed 68-55 Region 7-AAAA win at the Chestatee gym.
Both teams came in in dire need of a win riding long losing streaks. West Hall (7-15, 2-5 Region 7-AAAA) had a six-game losing streak going while Chestatee (5-19, 0-8) was working on a seven-game losing streak. The War Eagles streak now is at eight.
It wasn’t until getting a 15-6 run in the final four minutes that the Spartans were able to finally pull away.
“We’ve lost a lot of close games because we didn’t make good decisions in key moments,” Pless said. “It looked like it was going to happen again when they got it to a one-point game. But we got some guys to step up and make some good decisions and some big plays.”
Seniors Xzavier Reid and Jacob Satterfield combined for 11 points during the pivotal run and Tae Reid hit four free throws in the final two minutes to help preserve the lead.
With just one regular season game left for the Spartans -- at home against White County on Friday -- Pless said the win could help them find a spark at the right time.
“It’s good to get a win, for sure,” he said. “This could give us some confidence. Our biggest problem is that you have eight four-minute sections of a game and we’ll win five or six of them. It’s the other two or three where we kind of fall apart. I thought we did a better job (tonight).”
West Hall never trailed and built a 41-31 lead midway through the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Noah Edmondson. The War Eagles, however, sparked by five consecutive points from Cooper Wilson, began to chip away.
Chestatee got within 43-42 with 50 seconds left in the third quarter and to 45-44 on a Donovan Hernandez basket just seconds into the fourth quarter. But Xzavier Reid took control with four consecutive points and then pushed the lead to 59-50 on four more consecutive points.
Chestatee got as close as 61-55 on a three-point play by Cameron Gwyn with 1:52 left but Satterfield’s three-point play 40 seconds later helped seal the win.
West Hall opened the game with a 9-2 run and led 15-10 after the first quarter. The Spartans took a 23-12 lead on a basket by Xzavier Reid to cap an 8-0 run in the second quarter and eventually took a 34-24 lead into halftime.
Xzavier Reid paced West Hall with 19 points. Edmondson added 13, Satterfield 11, and Tae Reid 10 for the Spartans.
Gwyn led Chestatee with 15 points. Angel Zamora had seven points for the War Eagles in their regular season finale.
WEST HALL GIRLS 47,
CHESTATEE 27
Despite having already clinched the top spot in the upcoming Region 7-AAAA Tournament, West Hall did not show any signs of complacency.
The Lady Spartans came out firing, especially Avery Prather, who opened the game with a 3-pointer off an assist from Anna McKendree. Prather poured in six points to go with two steals and an assist of her own as West Hall outscored Chestatee 18-0 in the first quarter. The Lady Spartans held Chestatee to 0-for-10 shooting and forced five turnovers while building the big lead.
It didn’t get any better for Chestatee early on in the second quarter as West Hall extended the lead to 23-0 on a Prather fastbreak basket with just 2:40 left in the half. But the Lady War Eagles finally got something going in the final minutes.
Lindsey Caudell broke the drought with 2:26 left on a basket and then Dawndria Bell and Brooklyn Popham each drained 3-pointers in the final minute to pull Chestatee within 23-8 by halftime.
The Lady Spartans showed their versatility in the first half getting just one assist and one rebound from leading scorer Anna McKendree, who was shadowed early on in a box-and-1 defense by the Lady War Eagles. McKendree did not score but five different West Hall players tallied points in the opening 16 minutes.
Chestatee got as close as 27-13 early in the third quarter on a Caudell basket but McKendree found her stroke in the second half. McKendree assisted on a Macy Passmore 3-pointer and then converted a steal and layup for a 32-13 lead. Chestatee never got closer than 18 the rest of the way.
McKendree scored all 10 of her points after halftime as she and Prather, who also finished with 10 points, paced West Hall. Megan English added eight points and Passmore and Danielle Hinkelman each had six points for the Lady Spartans.
Popham led Chestatee with eight points and Caudell, the Lady War Eagles leading scorer, was held to just six for the game.
West Hall (19-5, 7-0 Region 7-AAAA) will take the No. 1 seed into the region tournament. The Lady Spartans will close out the season on Friday at home against White County.
Despite the loss in its season finale, Chestatee (19-6, 5-3) will be the No. 2 seed.
