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Habersham Central Raiders
A second-quarter scoring surge provided the spark the Habersham Central High School (HCHS) Girls’ Basketball team was looking for Tuesday as the Lady Raiders routed the Johnson High School (JHS) Lady Knights 64-33 in Gainesville, improving their record to 4-4 on the season.
“It was close for a few minutes, but in the second quarter, we finally just broke it open,” said coach Bill Bradley. “I think our depth and aggression made the difference in the ballgame.”
The Lady Raiders began the game well offensively as they took a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, but it was the second quarter when their offense went from good to unstoppable.
HCHS scored 25 second-quarter points and limited the Lady Knights to just five points, giving them an insurmountable 40-16 halftime lead.
Bradley said the Lady Raiders’ full-court defense made the biggest difference in the first half.
“We tried to go a little bit up-tempo and make our opponents keep up,” he said, adding his players also were in the right positions for success. “They were helping each other defensively, instead of everybody playing single defense,” he said. “We looked for our opponent to trap from the right spot, rather than looking to gamble and trap.”
The Lady Raiders hot shooting continued in the second half, evidenced by their 20-7 third-quarter run. After clearing the bench in the fourth quarter, the Lady Raiders ended the game on the short side of a 10-6 run, but the victory was never in doubt.
Having worked on their defensive inefficiencies in practice, the Lady Raiders played one of their best games of the season against JHS.
“If you’re playing man-to-man and force your man to go a little bit out of control, then good things are going to happen for your defense,” Bradley said. “That happened for us. We finally had people in the right spot to make those plays.”
While they scored their highest point total of the season Tuesday night, most of the points came from inside the arc. The Lady Raiders shot just 2-14 on three-pointers.
“Most of our stuff was inside,” Bradley said. “We didn’t shoot the three very well and finally said, ‘Alright, we’re going to stop shooting the three – let’s go and attack the rim.’”
Most of the Lady Raiders’ scoring came on transition buckets off turnovers created by the defense, Bradley said.
“They were pressing us early and Addie [Penick] made some good decisions,” he said. “We threw over the top and got some easy layups when they were trying to press us.”
Bradley added contributions were made by every Lady Raider, both offensively and defensively.
Taylor Wade had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals; Nykerriah Brown had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and six steals; Penick had 10 points, six rebounds, 10 assists and three steals; Elizabeth Pollitt had eight points, three rebounds and two steals; Lindsey Parker had seven points, two rebounds and two steals; Jazky Bantaum, Hailey Wade, Ashley Wilson and Kelsey Banks had three points each; and Camden Tench and Shea Mills had two points each.
“Addie did a good job of seeing the floor,” Bradley said. “It took her a few minutes and she missed a couple early in the first quarter, but then she started doing a great job.”
Penick’s 10 assists were one of the biggest highlights of the game, Bradley said.
“A lot of times, you’ll see a kid get a lot of assists because they get all the steals, but in Addie’s case, that wasn’t necessarily the way it occurred,” he said. “They were trying to press, so Addie was able to make the right decision and right call and get that assist.”
While the outcome was positive, there are still issues Bradley wants his team to continue to work on.
“We’ve still got to execute and be able to make the extra pass,” he said. “Our three-point shooting wasn’t good. Sometimes, it’s settling for something when you could get something better. We’ve got to go work on that.”
The Lady Raiders will have plenty of time to resolve their issues, as they don’t play again until Dec. 13 against White County High School.
During their extended break between games, Bradley said the team will do a lot of running drills at practice and added some players will see extended playing time in a pair of JV games, which will be Saturday and Monday.
“Those kids are going to get more experience,” he said. “During the other days, we’ll have competitive practices. We want people competing against each other, because playing time is still wide open and spots on the floor are still wide open. Let’s go compete every day at practice – hopefully, that’ll help us get better.”
The JV Lady Raiders will play Cherokee Bluff High School at 10:15 a.m. Saturday in Flowery Branch and Apalachee High School at 5:45 p.m. Monday in Winder.