The Gilmer High Lady Cats improved to 5-0 versus region opponents last week.
GHS traveled to Cherokee Bluff Tuesday, and the Bears put up a fight, though the Cats came out on top at the end, 53-47.
Gilmer hit the road again Saturday. The Cats met the Dawson County Tigers and delivered another loss to a region foe, 49-48.
Lady Cats’ coach Susan Nunn scouted Cherokee Bluff ahead of the game but was dealt a surprise when they arrived to play.
“I think I underestimated them a little bit,” Nunn said. “I thought of them as being middle of the pack — and they are as far as stats go — but they are a better team than what I thought. They’re bigger than what they appeared on film and were pretty solid.
“They also had one player who was not on the film I had. She may have been quarantined or something, but she was definitely the scorer for them.”
GHS got off to a sluggish start and scored just nine points in the opening quarter to trail by three. The Bears sank three shots from beyond the three-point arc in the quarter and made one more in the second.
Gilmer began to gain an edge on the scoreboard by drawing fouls and making free throws. GHS converted 18/28 on the night, and shot 7/11 in the first half. Meanwhile, CBHS only shot two free throws through two quarters and trailed GHS at halftime, 25-21.
Kaitlin Cook helped the Bears keep pace in the third and scored eight of her team-leading 10 points.
GHS went inside to Elly Callihan and Emma Deyton for points, while Beth Burnette scored five in the quarter, which included a three pointer.
The Cats led 40-38 entering the fourth. GHS shot 7/8 from the line over the final eight minutes, which included a 6/6 effort from Callihan to extend and preserve Gilmer’s win.
“We put ourselves in a hole a little bit and struggled getting our rhythm going,” Nunn said. “It was a dogfight the whole game.
“I’m very pleased we didn’t start spiraling down thinking ‘what’s going wrong?’ We hung tight and kept working and finally started making some baskets. I feel like we should beat them by more than we did, we just couldn’t get it going in the first half.”
Elly Callihan led all scorers with 20 points, Deyton added 10, both Hope Colwell and Lark Reece scored seven, Burnette finished with five and Emma Callihan totaled four.
Gilmer got off to another slow start versus Dawson. The Tigers used a high-pressure defense and drained nine threes on the offensive end.
“We didn’t play as intense in the first half on defense as I would have liked us to,” Nunn said. “That’s what put us in the boat we were in. We played much better in the second half, and I was proud of our defense.”
HS trailed 11-5 after a quarter and 24-17 at the half. Offenses still lagged in the third, but Dawson maintained a 32-27 lead.
However, Elly Callihan got hot in the fourth. She made three three pointers and converted 5/8 free-throw attempts.
Ahead 47-45 with eight seconds to play, Lady Cat Emma Callihan made two from the line. Dawson hit a three at the buzzer on its final possession as the Cats came away with the win.
“In the second half, we came alive on defense,” Nunn said. “Usually when that happens for us, we start lighting it up on offense as well. All of our guards put some extreme pressure on them and they were really struggling with the ball.”
Elly Callihan scored 22 points and Emma Callihan added nine more. Remaining points were scored by Colwell and Deyton (six apiece), Reece (four) and Brooke Wilson (two).
GHS is 11-2 overall and hosted White County at press deadline and will travel to Lumpkin Friday for a 7 p.m. game.