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The Braselton News
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IB
Wednesday,
January 9, 2008
Girls’ Basketball
Mill Creek sweeps region opponents
Lady Hawks lead region, number one in state I (
DENIED!
Moneshia Simmons (50) goes for the block in a previous game. Simmons scored 18 points, grabbed
six rebounds and had six steals against Norcross last Wednesday. Photo by Kristi Reed
BY KRISTI REED
The Lady Hawks (14-1, 7-0)
continued their reign over region
opponents this past week, winning
games against Norcross, Collins
Hill and Forsyth Central. Friday,
the Lady Hawks host Peachtree
Ridge at home.
The Lady Lions travel to Mill
Creek with a 3-5 record in region
play. With an 8-8 record overall,
Peachtree Ridge will be looking for
an opportunity to move into posi
tive territory with a win against top
ranked Mill Creek.
Currently ranked seven in the
region, Peachtree Ridge will face
an uphill struggle as it battles the
number one team in the state.
Despite having the odds heavily in
his team’s favor, Lady Hawks Head
Coach Ashley Phillips said his team
must play with intensity regardless
of the opponent.
DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
The Norcross Blue Devils (6-6,
3-3) fought hard, but could not
make headway against a very
solid Mill Creek team in last
Wednesday’s matchup. The Hawks
maintained control of the game,
winning 66-57.
Phillips said his team played
well, but said Norcross played a
good game as well.
“Norcross was a tough game,”
Phillips said. “We were sort of
in control of the game, but never
really pulled away.”
Phillips praised the strength and
speed of the Norcross team.
“They have a big, very athletic
post player that gave us some trou
ble,” he said. “They’re really athlet
ic overall. We got some of the stuff
we wanted, but their athleticism
definitely kept them in the game.
They had a couple of three point
ers in the last minute that made it a
little bit closer.”
Phillips said his team pressed
well, but the Blue Devils responded
to the challenge.
“We got some turnovers off the
press,” Phillips said. “But when
they beat the press, they beat it for a
layup. With their speed, they turned
it into points.”
In the second half, Phillips had
his team play more zone. Phillips
said his decision was based partly
on Norcross’ success against the
press and partly due to foul trouble
for a few of his players. In the end,
it did not
matter for
the Blue
Devils.
“They
really
weren’t
scoring
outside. They were scoring every
thing on transition and their post
player was getting some points. We
decided to take away their transi
tion and not let the post player get
any one-on-one opportunities,” he
said.
Porsha Porter and Moneshia
Simmons led the Lady Hawks with
18 points each. Megan Basile and
Moneshia Simmons were the top
rebounders with six each. Simmons
added six steals to the winning
effort.
HAWKS DEFEAT EAGLES
On Friday, Mill Creek scored
a decisive victory against region
opponent Collins Hill (9-6, 5-3).
The Lady Hawks trounced the
Eagles 74-28. Porsha Porter scored
19 points for the Lady Hawks.
Olivia Towers-Solis added 13.
Moneshia Simmons grabbed six
boards with Porter and Towers-
Solis pulling down four apiece.
Porter and Towers-Solis had five
steals each against the Eagles,
Simmons had four.
Phillips said his team’s press was
very effective against Collins Hill.
“We obviously played really well
in that game,” he said. “We forced a
lot of turnovers. We just kind of got
on a roll and kept going.”
Phillips said Collins Hill played
with intensity.
“They’re pretty solid. They have
a couple of good post players that
are good scorers inside,” he said.
BULLDOGS ALL BARK
Forsyth Central (5-11, 0-8)
became the latest region opponent
to fall to the Lady Hawks. In their
first meeting of this season, Mill
Creek showed Forsyth Central why
the Lady Hawks are number one in
7AAAAA with a 68-44 victory.
The Bulldogs have struggled this
year, but Phillips had praise for the
team.
“They’ve got some good shoot
ers and they’ve got a post player
that’s about 6’-3”, so they’ve got
some pretty good kids. They’ve
been struggling a lot this year in the
region. It’s been a tough year for
them,” he said.
Porsha Porter had 19 points for
the Hawks. Whitney Smith and
Moneshia Simmons chipped in 11
points each.
UP NEXT
Overall, Phillips said he is pleased
with his team’s performance to
date. According to Phillips, his
team is in good physical condi
tion for this time of year and will
continue to improve as post season
play approaches.
“We’re on schedule,” Phillips
said. “You can’t really replace
what you get out of playing games.
That’s where the conditioning real
ly comes in. You do a lot in practice
so that they can play really hard in
the game.”
This past week, Phillips’ team
has focused on half court offense
and defensive basics.
“We’ve been spending a lot of
time working on being a little bit
sharper with our offensive exe
cution,” Phillips said. “We have
worked a lot on being fundamen
tally sound on defense. When you
play a lot of good, athletic teams,
you have to be in good defensive
position. It’s easy to get in bad
habits when you have a couple of
games where everything goes your
way.”
Mill Creek continues region play
this Friday against the Peachtree
Ridge Lions. Tipoff is scheduled
for 6 p.m. at Mill Creek High
School.
Coming up:
WHAT: Mill Creek vs.
Peachtree Ridge
WHERE: Hoschton
WHEN: Jan. 11 @6
p.m.
Bovs’ Basketball
Hawks win one, lose two in region play
BY KRISTI REED
After a mixed week of region
play, Mill Creek (5-11, 3-5) hopes
to improve its record when it faces
Peachtree Ridge on Friday. The
Lions (9-7, 5-3) head to Hoschton
after a big wins against North
Gwinnett and North Forsyth.
As the Hawks reach the halfway
mark in regular season play, head
coach Phil Bollier said his team has
continued to show improvement.
Despite setbacks against Collins
Hill and Norcross, Bollier is opti
mistic that Mill Creek has yet to
play its best basketball game.
“We just want to be steady with
what we do,” he said. “We’ve
improved our mental and physical
toughness and we want to continue
making that grow so that we are
the best at the end of the season.”
“We definitely have progressed,”
Bollier said. “The last three weeks
for us, our learning curve and our
program have improved much and
we’re much more stable now.”
NO. 1 FOR A REASON
Norcross (9-1, 6-0) demonstrat
ed why the Blue Devils are the
number one ranked team in the
state and in region 7AAAAA dur
ing Wednesday’s 83-42 rout of
Mill Creek.
Bollier said he expected a tough
match against the Blue Devils.
Despite the loss, Bollier believes
the game was a valuable learning
experience for his team.
“[Norcross is] powerful,” Bollier
said. “They’re top ten in the coun
try. They’ve got a very good sys
tem with tremendous athletes. Our
goal going into that game was not
FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE
Head Coach Phil Bollier rallies his team during a previous game. The Hawks improved to 3-5 in region play this past week with Tuesday’s
victory against Forsyth Central. Bollier says his team is continuing to show improvment. Photo by Kristi Reed
to be quick with the ball and we
just got in a hurry. I’m going to
say that our hurry created some
baskets for them.”
Bollier said his team played well
against a tough opponent and he
looks forward to the rematch later
this season.
“The next time we play, we’re
going to do a better job controlling
the tempo of the game. They’re
ranked number one in the state
on pur
pose,” he
said.
Travis
Bollier
led the
Hawks in
scoring
with 15 points. Zach Landis had
12 points, four rebounds and four
assists. Chase Anderson was the
top rebounder with five boards.
COMEBACK SINKS HAWKS
Coming up:
WHAT: Mill Creek vs.
Peachtree Ridge
WHERE: Hoschton
WHEN: Jan. 11 @ 7:30
p.m.
Though Collins Hill (13-5, 6-2)
trailed at the half, the Eagles
capitalized on missed scoring
opportunities by Mill Creek to
secure a 64-59 victory in Friday’s
matchup.
After the half, the Hawks
watched their lead erased as the
team struggled to sink baskets.
“The third quarter, we got good
shots like we did in the first
half,” Bollier said. “It was almost
like there was something on the
rim knocking off some shots we
had.”
Bollier said the game ended up
being a typical Gwinnett County
region game.
“It ended up being a battle,” he
said. “It was physical, but our
kids played hard and did what
they needed to do. Just not every
thing went our way.”
Turnovers in the third quarter
contributed to the loss, according
to Bollier. While the Hawks did
not have an excessive number of
turnovers, the ones the team had
came at inopportune times.
“We turned the ball over a cou
ple of times for scores which we
did not do at all in the first half,”
Bollier said.
Chase Anderson was the game’s
top scorer with 19 points. Zach
Landis scored 13 and Travis
Bollier added ten to the team’s
effort. Manu Ogbuehi had nine
points and pulled down six
rebounds. Chris Avery contributed
eight points and seven assists.
WINNING STREAK ENDS
Tuesday’s matchup was the first
meeting this season between the
Mill Creek and Forsyth Central
programs. The Bulldogs (4-12,
2-6) have struggled this season,
but headed to Hoschton with
consecutive wins against West
Forsyth, Lumpkin County and
North Forsyth.
Mill Creek was ready for Forsyth
Central, handing the Bulldogs a
63-49 loss.
Travis Bollier and Zach Landis
scored 12 points each as the
Hawks improved to 3-5 in region
7AAAAA.
UP NEXT
Mill Creek faces region oppo
nent Peachtree Ridge this Friday.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 in
Hoschton.