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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL I East Hall boys 57, North Hall49 OT
Starting strong in region
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
East Hall’s Jay Rucker blocks North Hall’s Daniel Jackson’s shot during Tuesday’s game in Gainesville.
Lavoy Hill gives East Hall boost it needs for overtime victory
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
GAINESVILLE 76,
GAC GIRLS 73
Blackwell
sparks win
for Big Red
Leading scorer put
up 33 for Gainesville
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.com
Since taking the coaching reins at
Gainesville High, Alan Griffin along with
his staff have aimed to bring out the posi
tivity in the girls basketball program.
The first-year coach believes if morale
is high and the joy of being around your
teammates on the floor is a constant, the
results will come.
If it’s not those “life-changing” hour-long
bus rides filled with boisterous, singing
teenagers after a road win, then maybe
Tuesday night’s thrill
ing home victory over
Greater Atlanta Chris
tian showed that Griffin’s
message to the Lady Red
Elephants has been well
received.
Tija Blackwell erupted
for a career-high 33
points, including the go-
ahead stepback jumper
with 22 seconds left, and
two additional scorers amassed double
figures as Gainesville (4-3) held off the
seventh-ranked Lady Spartans for a 76-73
win in Gainesville.
“I told them yesterday at practice, ‘you
know, if we do a couple things right, we
can beat them.’ And they kind of looked at
me like, ‘coach talk, whatever.’ But I was
serious,” Griffin said. “I asked them (in
the locker room) if they
believe now. It was a fun
win, just to see them con
stantly mature and grow
and trust in each other....
They are a great group of
kids.”
Despite trailing for
three of four quarters,
Blackwell said main
taining composure was
key against GAC, which
led for three quarters and had four play
ers score in the double digits. Lead scorer
Jaida Hall (19 points) and Kennedi Wil
liams (10 points) each drilled a 3 on back-
to-back possessions as the Lady Spartans
(3-4) erased a six-point, fourth-quarter defi
cit, and a Tamori Plantin (14 points, eight
rebounds) layup knotted the score at 73-all
with under a minute to play.
But Blackwell, unfazed by the moment,
said she trusted her shot would go in as
the ball rolled off her fingertips from just
inside the arc.
“Coach was just telling us to play fast
— not too fast — but play at your tempo,”
Blackwell added. “Don’t stress, just play
ball. Do you.”
Days after she matched Blackwell on
the books with a 16-point outing against
Marietta, shooting guard Tia Shelton added
another breakout performance. Trail
ing 49-48 entering the final eight minutes,
Shelton drained a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0
Gainesville run at the start, and went on to
finish with 24 points.
In order to combat GAC’s non-stop
press, Lauren Teasley was a vital force
for Gainesville’s offense. Inside the paint,
Teasley tallied eight of her 14 points in the
fourth period to keep the Lady Red Ele
phants ahead.
“We knew they had incredible athletes,
and that they were gonna press for 32 min
utes,” Griffin said. (Lauren) did a fantastic
job handling the pressure in the middle of
the court.”
Besides the scoring talents of Blackwell
and Shelton, Griffin had several other play
ers chip in big minutes on the floor. Grif
fin was pleased to see players like Ariah
Jeffers muscle her way for a handful of
offensive rebounds against an athletic
GAC squad. As Gainesville clung to its two-
point lead in the closing seconds, Jeffers
snatched away a defensive board on GAC’s
final possession to ice the game.
“You know, we’re growing in depth,
we’re working toward depth. But those
girls just played as hard as they could for
32 minutes. And that’s all I asked them to
■ Please see RED, 2B
Lavoy Hill didn’t start the game for
East Hall in its 57-49 overtime win against
region rival North Hall Tuesday night, but
he certainly finished it.
With East Hall ahead by four late in
the extra period, Kylan Curry went to the
free throw line with a chance to push the
lead higher. Curry was off on the shot, but
Hill managed to grab the rebound, forcing
another foul.
He hit his first attempt from the charity
stripe, and after missing the second, East
Hall’s Aaron Thomas grabbed another
offensive rebound and dished it back to
Hill, who put it right back up and in, with
a foul. This time, Hill was perfect on the
free throw that extended the Vikings lead
to eight and all but ended the game in
East Hall’s favor.
“This is a kid who hasn’t gotten a lot
of minutes this year, but we’ve been put
ting him in and he’s been working his
way up,” East Hall coach Seth Thompson
said. “Lavoy Hill came in and did a great
job. He gave us great minutes. He was a
key for us winning tonight. I’m so proud
of him, because he didn’t get a lot of min
utes at the beginning of the season and has
hung with us and just showed his heart
tonight and really did a great job. ”
Hill finished the game with eight points
— including five in overtime — and a cou
ple of key offensive boards. The Vikings
(4-3,1-0 Region 7-3A) were led by Kylan
Curry, who scored 18 on the night. Senior
Jay Rucker only had eight points in the
game, but he added seven blocked shots
and a steal in a dominant defensive effort.
The Trojans (2-3, 0-1) got 11 points
from Drew Faulkner and 10 from Daniel
Jackson.
The game was a defensive battle from
the beginning. Neither team saw many
clean looks early on, and not even open
shots seemed to be falling for either
squad.
Rucker was dominant as a rim protec
tor in the opening frame, rejecting four
North Hall shot attempts in the first eight
minutes, including back-to-back blocks on
■ Please see EAST, 2B
HIGH SCHOOL SCOREBOARD
Benjie Wood wins 400th career game
Griffin Neville scored a
game-high 29 points for Chero
kee Bluff in a 63-44 win against
Lumpkin County on Tuesday,
marking the 400th career win
for Bears coach Benjie Wood.
On Friday, Cherokee Bluff
(3-3) faces Cumberland Chris
tian Academy at 7:30 p.m.
in Austell.
CHESTATEE GIRLS 61,
DENMARK 37: Alex Edmonds
and Emma Easterwood each
had 12 points for the Lady
War Eagles on Tuesday in
Alpharetta. Also for Chestatee,
Christina Garcia scored 10
points, followed by Nicole Sed-
wick with eight. With the win,
Chestatee moves to 5-4 and 1-0
in Region 7-4A.
On Friday, Chestatee visits
Flowery Branch at 7 p.m.
RIVERSIDE MILITARY
ACADEMY 65, RABUN
COUNTY 40: Isaac Teasley tal
lied 25 points for the Eagles on
Tuesday in Gainesville. Areeb
Ahmad scored 11 points, while
Khalid Duke had eight for Riv
erside Military Academy (7-1).
Riverside Military Academy
visits Wesleyan at 2:30 p.m. on
Saturday in Norcross.
■ Please see SCORES, 2B
Blackwell
MIKE MCCARN I Associated Press
Clemson’s Travis Etienne (9) runs past Pittsburgh’s Dennis
Briggs (20) in the first half of the Atlantic Coast Conference
championship on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL I All-ACC
No. 2 Clemson puts 9 in first team
Associated Press
No. 2 Clemson once again domi
nated the Associated Press All-Atlantic
Coast Conference teams and individual
awards released Tuesday.
The four-time defending league
champions placed 11 players on the
two teams as selected by a panel of 14
sports writers who cover the confer
ence. Five Tigers made the first team,
and four were unanimous picks. Offen
sive tackle Mitch Hyatt was a unani
mous pick for the second straight year.
Clemson nearly swept the individual
awards. Running back Travis Etienne
was picked as the offensive player of
the year, defensive end Clelin Ferrell
was the defensive player of the year,
quarterback Trevor Lawrence was
voted the newcomer of the year and
coach Dabo Swinney shared the coach
of the year award with Syracuse’s Dino
Babers. Etienne and Ferrell also were
unanimous selections to the first team
along with Tigers defensive tackle
Christian Wilkins. Clemson earned
its fourth straight berth in the College
I Inside
| Complete All-ACC list, 2B
Football Playoff a day after beating
Pittsburgh in the ACC title game.
Etienne led the ACC with 1,463 yards
rushing and 21 touchdowns while Fer
rell had a league-best 10.5 sacks.
Babers led Syracuse, the preseason
last-place pick in the Atlantic Division,
to a 9-3 record, a second-place finish in
the division and a berth in the Camping
World Bowl.
