The Gilmer High Lady Cats kicked off their region basketball schedule with a pair of home games last week.
GHS hosted the West Hall Spartans Tuesday and put the game away early as coach Susan Nunn emptied her bench in a 70-15 win.
The tables were turned Friday versus White County. Lady Cat senior Elly Callihan left the game with an injury in the first quarter, and the Warriors took advantage en route to a 62-27 victory.
Nunn discussed the week following Friday’s game.
“(West Hall) was a total opposite type of team (from White County). West Hall was a slow-paced, sit-back-in-a-zone-type team,” Nunn said. “It was a good game to get everybody in and work on some little things, but it definitely didn’t get us ready for tonight (against White).”
Callihan outscored West Hall by herself, and she accomplished that feat by halftime. GHS led 40-7 and Callihan was there for 16 first-half points. She added 12 more points in the third quarter, which included a pair of three pointers.
Gilmer’s lead stood at 56-11 entering the fourth where WHHS struggled against GHS reserves. The Cats extended their lead by 10 points to win by 55.
Behind Callihan’s 28 points were Charley Poteet with 14, and Lark Reece and Brooke Wilson both added eight.
GHS jumped to 6-0 lead versus White County before the Warriors got their offense going. Callihan left the game with 3:30 left in the first quarter, which WCHS closed out by going on an 18-3 run.
“It exposed lots of things for us when Elly was unable to come back into the game ... our youth, ball handling and handling pressure (showed),” Nunn said.
White led 18-9 to begin the second quarter. The Warriors made a trio of three pointers, and also tallied points in the post. GHS committed 11 turnovers under the Warriors’ pressure in the second, and they were converted into layups for easy points.
White took a 43-10 lead into halftime. Reece was there for six of 11 points in the third quarter, and the Cats only made one shot from the field in the fourth.
GHS was behind 65-21 to start the fourth where both coaches played backups.
“This was the most pressure we’ve seen and we knew that coming in,” Nunn said. “We talked about it all week, that they’re going to be up all over us and it’s never going to stop. It’s something we worked on all week, but it’s hard to emulate that in a practice setting.
“They also had more depth than I thought. We watched a good bit of game film on them. Sometimes, until you see them in person, it’s hard to read the speed of it. It’s going to be a process.”
Shot clocks were used in both games last week, but they did not have a noticeable influence.
“It really hasn’t played into the game a whole lot. The further in we go, and get later in region play, I think we’ll see it start to have an impact on everybody. So far, it hasn’t impacted our play,” Nunn said.
Reece led GHS with 10 points, Lucy Ray scored seven, and Aliza Chastain was there for five.
JV meets White County
The junior varsity Lady Cats took the court Tuesday against White County, and the visiting Warriors came away with a 52-39 win.
Gilmer’s Amayah Jones was there for 17 points on the day, and not much separated the teams through three quarters. GHS led 8-6 after the first, White nudged ahead 21-15 at the half, and the Warriors maintained a 33-30 edge with a quarter to play.
White tallied 19 points in the fourth, which outpaced the Cats by 10, and the Warriors won by 13.
Marley Boatwright added eight points for GHS, and both Grace Bramlett and Madison Bradshaw scored five, Julibelle Queen had two and Kate Carder scored one.