Friday March 29th, 2024 3:17AM

Basketball: Lady Trojans knock off No. 7 Union County; NHall boys rally for win

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

GAINESVILLE — North Hall girls coach Kristi House insisted it wasn’t the game plan. But after the Lady Trojans buried 15 of their first 25 3-pointers, it sure looked that way.

Junior Kristina Peach poured in 26 points, powered by seven treys, as North Hall erased an early deficit to stun Class 2A seventh-ranked Union County 78-49 on Tuesday at the North Hall gym.

“We just wanted to take good shots, no matter what they were. Shooting 3-pointers was not necessarily the plan, unless we got some good looks,” House said. “But the girls really shot the ball well, especially in the third quarter.”

North Hall (4-1) finished 16-of-29 (55 percent) from 3-point range, which matched the Lady Panthers (4-2) entire field goal total for the game.

In the first half, the team that created turnovers benefitted. In the opening quarter, North Hall had 8 turnovers and shot just 3-of-9 from 3-point range while the Lady Panthers, behind 5 points from Rebecka Chambers, ran out to a 14-9 lead.

The second quarter was the difference as North Hall used a 28-7 quarter, including a 14-0 run to close out the half. AB Gilleland opened the period with a 3-pointer to cut Union County’s lead to 14-12. Rylee McCall drained one to pull them within 16-15 and Peach’s second trey of the game gave the Lady Trojans a 19-18 lead they would not relinquish. 

Peach hit a third, Amelia Shoemaker followed with a long 3-pointer a minute late, and Athena Vachtsevanos closed out the half with an old-fashioned 3-point play for a 37-21 lead.

The second quarter also saw Union County pile up 7 turnovers in the period. At the same time, the Lady Panthers went cold from the field missing their last 8 shots of the half.

“We did not have a good start but we just told the girls to settle down and they did,” House said. “They really did a great job of taking care of the ball.”

North Hall had just 6 turnovers over its final three quarters.

North Hall continued the 3-point barrage in the third quarter. Peach hit four more as the Lady Trojans opened up a 63-35 lead at one point in the period.

The North Hall defense also neutralized Union County senior and North Georgia-commit Ava Hunter. She would finish with 17 points and 6 rebounds but came in averaging 22 points and 16 rebounds a game. Chambers had 14 for the Lady Panthers.

McCall finished with 18 points for North Hall.


NORTH HALL BOYS 56,
UNION COUNTY 47

The Trojans (4-1) held the Panthers (1-4) to just 5 fourth quarter points to rally for the win on Tuesday night at home.

North Hall trailed 42-39 heading into the final period but used a 14-4 run to open the fourth quarter to reclaim the lead.

Elijah Gaddy had 14 points to lead the Trojans. Robert Terry finished with 11 and Andrew Bales had 9 for North Hall.

The game was a tight affair for the first three quarters with the lead changing hands more than a dozen times. The teams were tied at 10 after the opening frame with North Hall taking a 25-22 lead into halftime.

Union County exploded for 20 third quarter points behind a half-dozen steals on defense to grab a 42-39 lead. But the Panthers could not hold on as they went ice cold in the fourth quarter and committed eight turnovers.

Jude Ellis led Union County with 11 points. Caleb John added 9 and Lake Hughes 8 for the Panthers.

  • Associated Categories: Sports, High School Sports
  • Associated Tags: High school basketball, North Hall girls basketball, Union County girls basketball
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