SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 30, 2018
IY\NIERIY\ND GIRLS I Flowery Branch 48, North Hall23
Four-peat for Falcons
V
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
The Flowery Branch girls basketball team hoists the trophy after beating North Hall 48-23 in the Lanierland
championship game on Saturday at West Hall. The Lady Falcons have now won four straight championships in the
Hall County tournament.
Strong overall showing sends Flowery Branch to win
North Hall’s Maci Gillespie attempts to block Flowery
Branch’s Ashley Woodroffe during the Lanierland
championship on Saturday at West Hall High in
Oakwood.
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.
com
Last year, Flowery
Branch coach Courtney
Newton-Gonzalez was
emotional for her stellar
senior class, which made
program history with a
third-straight Lanierland
championship trophy to
add to the school’s trophy
case.
It was the same circum
stance for the fourth-year
Lady Falcons coach Sat
urday night, only a differ
ent bunch to congratulate
as the 2019 class added
another benchmark in the
group’s legacy.
Reigning Hall County
champion Flowery
Branch stormed past
North Hall for a 48-23
triumph in the 2018 Lani
erland title game at West
Hall High, sealing the pro
gram’s first-ever four-peat
in the tournament.
The Lady Falcons (12-
3) are also the first team
in the girls bracket to
win four-straight titles
since West Hall, which
won championships from
1997-2000.
“You know, I think this
group had a monkey on
their back. Just because
we did lose so much (after
last year),” Newton-Gon
zalez said of her current
senior group. “We lost
some great, great play
ers. So I think there might
have been some doubt
coming into this season,
but I’m so proud of them
for brushing off all that
doubt and being able to
step up as seniors and lead
this group and continue
the legacy.”
A new player from West
Virginia early in her high
school career, Ashley
Scott was in the surprising
position to give the Lady
Falcons the lead early
and then go on to front
the scoring efforts with 15
points.
“It’s something really
special,” said Scott, who’s
production came solely
from the perimeter with
five 3-pointers, and was
named to the Lanierland
All-tournament team. “A
lot of kids have to .. keep
up, I guess (with this pro
gram). Transition into
what we’ve accomplished.
And I think our team is
good enough to do it, espe
cially for next few years. ”
The Lady Falcons
played with such an inten
sity and enthusiasm that
stayed with the defending
champs from start to fin
ish. Offensively, all five
starters fueled a scoring
rampage that resulted in
Flowery Branch carrying
a double-digit lead from
the first quarter through
the rest of the game.
‘It’s a feeling of accom
plishment because, it was
what we were aiming for,”
said senior guard Ashley
Woodroffe, who capped
off her final Lanierland
game with 13 points, and
earned the tournament’s
MVP distinction.
Senior guard Caroline
Wysocki was another to
lead the charge as she
chipped in six points with
five assists and four steals.
Flowery Branch, nor
mally a squad dedicated
to pressing opponents
early, switched things up
to better combat North
Hall’s tenacious group of
guards. As a result, the
Lady Falcons yielded
their opponent to single
digit points for three of
four quarters, and very
few clean looks at the
basket.
North Hall post player
Ansleigh Ferguson,
after recording double-
■ Please see GIRLS, 4B
LY\NIERU\ND BOYS
Gainesville 70, East Hall 62
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Gainesville’s boys basketball program lifts the trophy after
beating East Hall to repeat as Lanierland champions on
Saturday at West Hall High.
Still kings of
Hall County
Gainesville pulls away late to
repeat as tournament champs
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
Senior Gainesville guard
Maurice Hector was not
thinking about the legacy he
would leave behind coming
into Saturday night’s Lani
erland final against East
Hall — the last Hall County
tournament of his career.
But when the final buzzer
went off to seal his team’s
70-62 win over the Vikings,
the gravity of what he and
the rest of the senior class
had accomplished started to
set in.
The Red Elephants’ Lani
erland championship win
marked Gainesville’s third
straight, and assured that
each senior on the team
finished their careers unde
feated at the event.
“Once that final buzzer
sounded, it hit home quite
a bit,” Hector said. “It was
really sentimental to us, me
and Brent Kelly and Rassie
Littlejohn and Silas Wood.
We really appreciate this
win.”
Hector was the driving
force behind the Gaines
ville (7-6) win. He scored
18 points, hitting six 3-point-
ers — three of those in the
fourth quarter.
“I’m so proud of that
kid,” Gainesville coach
Chuck Graham said. “That
kid waited his turn. There’s
All-tournament team
something to be said about
when a kid just continues to
work. He never complained.
He was always working on
his shot. And now he’s seeing
the benefits of that.”
Kylan Curry scored 14 for
East Hall (9-7) in the loss.
The Red Elephants ben
efited from a strong finish,
but to start, they appeared
greatly outmatched against
the athletic Viking squad.
East Hall scored the first
five points of the game, and
ended the opening quarter
on a 6-0 run that gave it a
15-8 advantage after the first
eight minutes.
Gainesville surged back in
the second though, getting a
pair of Hector 3s and a trio
of buckets from Jordan Wil
liams in the post. A Robert
Reisman trey with less than
30 seconds to go until half
time gave the Red Elephants
a one-point lead heading into
the break.
Gainesville jumped all
over East Hall in the third
quarter, starting the half on
a 10-2 run and outscoring the
Vikings 17-7 over the course
of the eight-minute period.
“The challenge was to
match (East Hall’s) inten
sity level,” Graham said. “I
thought our guys did a great
job of that.”
The Red Elephants
■ Please see BOYS, 4B
Ashley Woodroffe
Kinsey Wilson
Ivey Shadburn
Christina Garcia
Eliza Snyder
Maci Gillespie
Jazmyn Gooch
Tia Shelton
Ashley Scott
Madi Phillips
Rafael Rubel
Noah Edmondson
Cam Gwyn
Adam Cottrell
Ty Smith
Danny Garcia
Maurice Hector
Mario Brown
Griffin Neville
Girls
Flowery Branch (MVP)
West Hall
East Hall
Chestatee
Lakeview Academy
North Hall
Johnson
Gainesville
Flowery Branch
Cherokee Bluff
Boys
Gainesville (MVP)
West Hall
Chestatee
Lakeview Academy
North Hall
Johnson
Gainesville
Flowery Branch
Cherokee Bluff
Handing out awards for the best of the NFL in 2018
BY BARRY WILNER
AP Pro Football Writer
The Associated Press will hand out
its individual NFL awards on the night
before the Super Bowl in Atlanta. Until
then, here are some off-the-beaten
track honors to consider:
BEST GAME: Eagles 32, Texans 30.
Aside from the meaning for both teams
— the defending champs desperately
trying to find a way into the postseason,
the visitors seeking an AFC South title
and to hold onto a wild-card bye — it
was a tremendously dramatic, well-
played Week 16 contest with twists and
turns galore.
And it ended on a last-second win
ning field goal by one of Philly’s heroes
from last season, Jake Elliott.
Runners-up: Chargers 29, Chiefs 28
in Week 15 — too many flying flags
to make it a classic; Rams 54, Chiefs
51 in Week 11 for anyone who likes
video-game shootouts; Cowboys 13,
Saints 10 in Week 13, if your tastes tend
toward defense.
WORST GAME: Go all the way
back to the season opener for Miami’s
27-20 victory over Tennessee in, yawn,
the longest game ever played. Two
weather delays not only stretched out
the day, it also led to CBS going in and
out of the telecast. At least it featured a
tiebreaking 102-yard kickoff return by
Jakeem Grant. The game took 7 hours,
8 minutes.
Runners-up: Lots of Cardinals
games, maybe their 17-3 loss to Detroit
the worst; a Thursday night 6-0 win
for Jacksonville over Indianapolis in
Week 14 marked not so much by stingy
defense as inept offense.
BEST GAME SCENE: When Drew
Brees became the NFL’s all-time
leader in yards passing — with a
62-yard TD throw to rookie Tre’Quan
Smith in Week 5 — officials stopped the
game at the Superdome and the game
ball was handed to Pro Football Hall of
Fame officials on the sideline while the
crowd offered a loud and loving ova
tion. Brees removed his helmet, held
Inside
Atlanta looks to end season on
positive note at Tampa Bay, 4B
out his arm to salute the crowd and
hugged his wife, Brittany, and children
on the sideline.
“I love you guys so much,” Brees
said while hugging his three boys as
Brittany held their daughter nearby.
“You can accomplish anything in life if
you’re willing to work for it.”
BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR: No
surprise here, except perhaps to the
Patriots trying to defend Miami’s final-
seconds play in Week 14. Ryan Tanne-
hill threw a 14-yard pass to Kenny Stills,
who lateraled to DeVante Parker, who
quickly lateraled to Kenyan Drake
along the sideline. He cut toward the
middle and found a seam, helped by a
block from guard Ted Larsen at the 30.
Drake beat two Patriots to the corner
of the end zone — defensive back J.C.
■ Please see NFL, 2B
MATT ROURKE I Associated Press
Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, a Gainesville
High graduate, runs for a touchdown in the first half against
the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 23 in Philadelphia.
