FLOWERY BRANCH — No one had been able to really slow down No. 2 Flowery Branch all season. In fact, only one time had the undefeated Lady Falcons been held under 58 points, and that was in a 19-point win over Loganville.
Their average margin of victory during a 16-0 start to the season: 32 points.
But the Lady Falcons had yet to face a team as fast and quick as Region 8-AAAAA rival Gainesville. And the Lady Red Elephants took full advantage, especially on defense.
Gainesville forced 16 Flowery Branch turnovers and turned those into 20 points in taking an impressive 60-48 victory Friday night at the Flowery Branch gym in a battle for first place in Region 8-AAAAA.
“We weren’t expecting to go undefeated the whole season,” Flowery Branch coach Courtney Newton said. “(Gainesville) outplayed us in every phase. They played really tough defense and we didn’t really respond.”
Taylor Hawks was the catalyst for Gainesville (10-3, 7-0 Region 8-AAAAA) with a game-high 26 points to go with five steals. Hawks also held Flowery Branch guard Lexi Sengkhammee, who is usually the catalyst for the Lady Falcons offense, to just two points while taking her out of the offensive flow.
“I’m proud of the girls in how they came in here ready to play,” Gainesville coach Brenda Hill-Gilmore said. “We always try to play good defense. I thought we did tonight.”
The two teams traded the lead early with ties at 2, 7, and 9 in the first five minutes. The Lady Falcons (16-1, 6-1) then used their height advantage behind three offensive rebounds from Julianne Sutton to grab a 16-9 lead on a 7-0 run, capped by a Maddie Hetzel 3-pointer. But Hawks reclaimed some momentum cutting the lead to 16-12 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter.
The Lady Red Elephants used that spark to open the second quarter with a 16-3 run, capped by five consecutive points from Breana Fair, to take a 25-19 lead with 4:34 left in the half. A hounding Gainesville defense forced eight Flowery Branch turnovers that lead to eight points.
Hawks and Kelly combined for five steals for Gainesville in the opening half to repeatedly harass the Flowery Branch offense while building a 27-21 halftime lead.
The Lady Falcons pulled within 27-23 on a Sutton basket to open the third quarter but Gainesville’s Shikiya Brown sparked a 9-3 run moments later with a four-point play and then another basket on the Lady Red Elephants next possession. Hawks converted a three-point play after that for a 36-26 lead.
Flowery Branch got as close as six one more time, 36-30, on back-to-back baskets by Hetzel but Gainesville pushed the lead to 44-36 heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Falcons had chances to cut into the lead but on one long 25 second sequence missed a pair of free throws and could not convert three offensive rebounds into any points.
Two Fair baskets in a 30 second span after the missed Flowery Branch chances pushed Gainesville’s lead to 49-37 early in the fourth quarter and the Lady Falcons would not get closer than eight the rest of the way.
“Breana and all the seniors I thought played an excellent game,” Hill-Gilmore said. “We try not to take anyone for granted. It was a big win because it was a region game but it’s also a rivalry game and the girls know each other so I’m sure there was a little bit of wanting to beat your friends. We’ll enjoy this one for a little while and then get ready for East Hall (on Saturday).”
Newton said they will invoke their “24-hour rule.”
“Whether we win or lose we only hold onto things for 24 hours,” she said. “We’ll have the girls learn from this that anyone can beat you when we you don’t show up ready to play.”
Brown finished with 21 points for Gainesville. Fair added 10 points for the Lady Red Elephants.
Sutton paced Flowery Branch with 21 points before fouling out. Taniyah Worth had 11 points and Hetzel finished with 10 for the Lady Falcons.
GAINESVILLE BOYS 57
FLOWERY BRANCH 49
Flowery Branch gave No. 4 Gainesville all it could handle until the Red Elephants were finally able to shake loose in the fourth quarter to get the win and stay unbeaten in 8-AAAAA play.
The Falcons (10-7, 1-6 Region 8-AAAAA) led 1-0 on a Trey Bailey free throw and dictated a slow offensive pace but would trail the rest of the first half after Gainesville (8-2, 7-0) used a 10-4 run to grab a 21-15 lead. The Red Elephants took a 24-20 lead into halftime.
Gainesville opened up its biggest at the time, 28-22, early in the third quarter on a Bailey Minor three-point play but the Falcons answered with their best run of the game to grab a 34-32 lead on a Esteban Ortiz basket with just 47 seconds left in the third quarter. A KJ Buffen basket and a Michael White 3-pointer to close out the period gave Gainesville a 37-34 lead. A Tae Turner 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter pushed Gainesville’s lead to 40-34 but baskets by Gabe Holsten and John Mills got Flowery Branch within 40-38 with 6:16 left.
D’Marcus Simonds took over from there for the Red Elephants. The senior and Georgia State-commit scored 12 straight points, including hitting six consecutive free throws, to extend Gainesville’s lead to 52-38 with 2:03 left.
Flowery Branch made one last charge with a 9-1 run over the next 90 seconds to get within 53-47 but Simonds and Turner hit four more free throws in the final 23 seconds to preserve the win. The Red Elephants were just 13-of-22 from the line for the game but were a blistering 11-of-12 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Gainesville players figured to be anxious to take on the Falcons, who were coming off their first-ever Lanierland title taking advantage of the Red Elephants’ absence. Despite getting the win, Gainesville coach Benjie Wood was not in a talkative mood.
“We may have been a little too excited at the beginning,” Wood said. “We have to play a lot better. We didn’t play very good defense really. We need to learn to pass the ball more also. That’s it really.”
Simonds had a game-high 22 points, 16 in the second half going 8-for-8 on free throws, to lead Gainesville. Minor finished with 10 points and Turner had nine for the Red Elephants.
Brannon Clark led Flowery Branch with 12 points. Mills added 11 and Bailey had 10 points for the Falcons, who were held to just 3-three 3-pointers by the taller Gainesville defenders.
The Flowery Branch boys have now lost seven straight to Gainesville. The last win for the Falcons came on Dec. 18, 2012 at home.
The Gainesville teams next will play host to East Hall on Saturday in the first of two battles between the arch-rivals. Flowery Branch is off until playing host to Winder-Barrow on Tuesday in another key 8-AAAAA battle.
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