Greenbrier girls put it to Harlem

If a team's first 11 games of the season are any indicait will see the rest of the year, the Greenbrier girls basketball team is set.

The Lady Wolfpack defeated Harlem 55-36 on Friday night for a perfect 11-0 start to the season.

The win came after a full week of exams for the girls, which made for a light week of basketball practice.

"It was good to take a couple of days off," Greenbrier girls basketball coach Garrett Black said. "We practiced twice for about an hour, but that was it. I told them just go relax and get away for a while."

The treatment worked as Greenbrier led by as much as 22 points against Harlem. Junior Tiffany Blackburn sparked the offense with three first-half 3-pointers.

"As long as we're up by double digits, we're going to be patient," Black said. "We made that adjustment at halftime and went to a 1-3-1 defense."

The Lady Wolfpack zone defense controlled the momentum of the game and gave up only seven points to Harlem leading scorer April Woodard.

The Lady Bulldogs managed only 36 points as a team.

With little time to celebrate their 11-0 start, the Lady Wolfpack traveled to Cross Creek High School on Saturday.

The undefeated streak came to an end as Greenbrier fell to Cross Creek, 76-68.

Greenbrier guard Michelle Sweic scorched the nets for 30 points in the contest, while senior center Melissa Lewis added 18. No other Lady Wolfpack player, however, scored more than five points in the loss. Cross Creek took a more balanced offensive attack as four Lady Razorbacks scored double figures, led by Taylor Ayers' 19 points.

The win was the fourth of the year for Cross Creek, which also has defeated Lakeside, Butler and Glenn Hills.

Despite the loss, the Lady Wolfpack are still in a prime spot after the first half of the season. The Greenbrier girls won their only region game in a 50-45 victory over Evans and are 5-0 against Columbia County teams this year.

In their first 11 games, the Lady Wolfpack are outscoring their opponents by an average of 22 points per game.

The Greenbrier boys (7-5) earned their sixth and seventh wins this past weekend with a 59-47 victory over Harlem on Friday night and a 61-57 win at Cross Creek on Saturday.

Playing host to Harlem, senior Wolfpack Luther Holmes ruled the boards and turned in a 22-point performance in the win.

"When he's rebounding like that, we know we're going to be successful," Greenbrier coach Casey Dees said.

Fellow Wolfpack player Sean Gray gave Greenbrier an early lead with eight first-quarter points. Gray finished the game with 15 points including three 3-pointers.

"The kid took a beating in football," Dees said of Gray, who also was Greenbrier's starting quarterback this past fall. "He's starting to find his shot now."

This wasn't the first time Greenbrier and Harlem have met this year.

The Wolfpack beat the Bulldogs by 10 points on Nov. 21 at Lakeside in the Turkey Tip-Off. Harlem lost Friday night's game by just 12 points, despite playing without head coach Kim Chambers in the gym.

Chambers was ejected from a game at Taliaferro County when two questionable technical fouls were whistled on the coach less than a minute apart.

"Anytime a head coach is gone it's tough," Harlem assistant coach Jonathan Holley said. "Our guys battled till the end. I'm proud of their effort."

Both Harlem teams will take the Christmas weekend off before returning to the court for the Firehouse Subs Shoot Out on Wednesday and Thursday at Evans.

Greenbrier will hit the road again tonight for a pair of games at Hart County to wrap up the first half of the 2005-06 season.