Defense helps Spartans win battle of unbeatens

The Glenn Hills and Lakeside girls teams entered Monday night's meeting as the last two remaining unbeatens in Region 3-AAAA.

//

The season continued to go the Spartans' way during their 42-30 victory.

Glenn Hills standout Jessica Morton scored 22 points, and Glenn Hills pestered Lakeside with its man-to-man defense that held the Panthers to a season-low scoring output.

"I was just driving (to the basket) and looking for my teammates, too -- we were doing our thing," said Morton, who scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter (3-pointer, layup, layup, layup) to break open what was a 33-24 game.

Spartans coach Bernard Bowman said his team opened in a 1-3-1 zone defense to "feel out" Lakeside. The Panthers found plenty of space in the zone to hit two early 3-pointers and lead 8-5 after the first quarter. Glenn Hills switched to man-to-man defense, and scored the final 11 points of the first half to grab command of its seventh win.

Glenn Hills (7-1, 6-0) went ahead for good 1:45 before intermission.

"Our man-to-man was pretty strong," Bowman said. "That created a lot of opportunities ... but we still have a lot to work on."

Lakeside won its first six games this season mostly because of the point guard play of Carolyn Hennecken and the all-around scoring of Tishal Turknett.

They only managed six points apiece against a Glenn Hills defense that swarmed the Panthers for the final three quarters.

That's when Hennecken's drives -- she frequently maneuvered into lane with a nice hesitation dribble -- usually slammed into 6-foot Glenn Hills post Brandi Lamb, who swatted and altered countless scoring attempts. Lamb added 10 points.

"We were playing intimidated," said Lakeside coach Moe McCormack, whose team also got six points from Lindsey Weidenaar and Keisha Grant. "But we learned a lot of things that can make us better."

Grovetown boys win thriller in overtime

The Grovetown boys ended a brief losing skid in dramatic fashion last week, beating Josey 56-51 in overtime.

The Warriors were down by four with less than five seconds left. Grovetown guard Denzell Garrett's 3-pointer cut Josey's lead to one.

Grovetown coach Casey Dees called timeout and on the ensuing inbounds play, Josey stepped over the line and turned the ball over. Grovetown's Toney Threatt drew a foul on the ensuing possession and made both free throws to give Grovetown the lead by a point.

Josey inbounded, drew a foul and made one of two free throws to send the game to overtime, where the Warriors prevailed.

Garrett led the Warriors with 24 points.