DACULA — With junior Xavier Bledson the latest Gainesville player to succumb to injury, yet again the Red Elephants needed someone to step into the void, especially with a chance to capture the Region 8-AAAAAA regular season title on the line against Dacula.
Senior Michael White answered the call, pouring in a team-high 18 points to go with five rebounds and three steals to help Gainesville sneak out of the Dacula gym Saturday night with a tough 63-59 victory.
The Red Elephants (22-1, 8-0 Region 8-AAAAAA) clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming region tournament with the win. However, coach Benjie Wood was expecting a slugfest from the beginning despite beating the Falcons (16-7, 6-2) by 26 points just eight days ago.
“That’s a good basketball team and they got everyone back and you see they’re tough to play,” Wood said. “We expected a tough game. Coach Triaga does a great job over there.”
Dacula’s Gary Bishop opened the game with a 3-pointer and White answered back with a 3-pointer of his own moments later to set the tone for both teams. In the first half alone the game was tied three times at 3, 14, and 16 with the teams exchanging 11 lead changes before halftime.
Gainesville used a 9-1 run to take a 32-26 lead into halftime but the Falcons opened the third quarter with a 10-4 run to pull even at 36. But White hit another long 3-pointer to reclaim the lead 39-36 with 2:42 left in the period.
A key spot moments later on a foul and technical foul on Dacula sparked a 7-point possession in 18 seconds for Gainesville that was capped by another White 3-pointer for a 46-36 lead. Dacula would never lead again and the burst gave the Red Elephants just enough of a cushion to hold off a late flurry by the Falcons.
Dacula trimmed the lead to 46-40 heading into the fourth quarter and eventually caught the Red Elephants at 58 on a steal and then two free throws by Mekhail Bethea with 51 seconds left.
Gainesville, however, would hit 5-of-6 free throw in the final 29 seconds, including a pair by White with 4.1 seconds left and a pair by Kajuan Hale with 0.9 seconds left to seal it. Gainesville hit 16-of-18 free throws and the Falcons went 17-of-23 from the line for the game.
“Michael is very capable of having games like that. But we have a lot of guys that can step up. It was just his turn tonight with the way the game went,” Wood said. “We also did a good job at the line.”
Injuries continue to plague the Red Elephants, who this time were playing without junior Bledson for the second consecutive night. This after they just got back Bailey Minor after he missed three games.
Gainesville has lost nearly 30 games to injury from six different players this season. Senior Russ Tipton is still out for the Red Elephants.
“You can’t worry about injuries. It’s just part of the game. You just have to have the mentality of the next person is up and needs to be ready. I think the guys have dealt with it all pretty well,” Wood said.
Hale finished with 12 points for Gainesville. Jarred Rosser added 11 and Minor nine for the Red Elephants.
Bethea paced Dacula with 17 points and four steals. Justin Goodson had 13 points, Shayne Buckingham 11, and Arusha Hunter 10 for the Falcons.
GAINESVILLE GIRLS 37,
DACULA 26
Gainesville held Dacula to just one field and six points in the second half to rally for the Region 8-AAAAAA win.
The Lady Red Elephants (15-6, 6-2 Region 8-AAAAAA) trailed the Lady Falcons (9-14, 3-5) 20-17 at halftime but used a 9-0 run to open the third quarter to grab the lead and never let go.
It was a tough shooting night for both squads. Gainesville shot just 20 percent (9-of-44) for the game while Dacula was just 1-of-15 shooting (7 percent) in the second half.
“It was just two tired teams that just didn’t have any shooting legs,” Gainesville coach Brenda Hill-Gilmore said. “I thought we did well on defense considering. It wasn’t a pretty game, that’s for sure.”
The Gainesville defense kept them in the game forcing 23 Dacula miscues. Despite Gainesville starting the game 0-for-14 shooting, the Lady Falcons never led by more than seven, at 14-7 and 20-13, in the first half.
Taylor Hawks led the way for Gainesville with 20 points, with most of those coming from the free throw line. The Lady Red Elephants were 20-of-23 from the line for the game.
Gainesville really struggled shooting in the first half. If not for free throw shooting, Dacula would have led by double-digits in the first half.
The Lady Red Elephants went nine minutes without a field goal to open the gme, not getting their first basket until 7:01 left in the second quarter when Tangi Miller connected on a layup to cut the score to 14-9. However, Gainesville was 9-for-11 on free throws to stay within striking distance.
The Lady Red Elephants, who never led in the first half, did pull within 14-13 on a Hawks basket but Dacula’s Alyssa Criscolo drained back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 20-13 with 3:10 left.
The Gainesville defense went to work from there forcing four Dacula turnovers and held the Lady Falcons scoreless over the final 3:10 while trimming the lead to 20-17 by halftime.
The win kept Gainesville in second place in the region with two games left. They still have an outside chance of the No. 1 seed in the upcoming region tournament but would need to beat No. 3 Winder-Barrow on Tuesday and get some help next weekend.
“The main thing was to stay in second place,” Hill-Gilmore said. “It’s a big game on Tuesday but really just keeping improving into the tournament is what’s important right now. I feel we’re doing that.”
Tija Blackwell added eight points for Gainesville.
Criscolo paced Dacula with 11 points but had just a pair of free throws in the second half.
NOTES: With the 20 points, Hawks went over the 1,500-point mark in her career putting her in the top “six or seven,” Hill-Gilmore said, all-time in Gainesville history.
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