OAKWOOD - Clarke Central's trademark quickness and athleticism was much in evidence Friday night as the Gladiators came in for a sweep of West Hall in Oakwood in 8-AAAA games.
The Lady Glads, paced by Florida State signee Ganiyat Adeduntan and Shuntae Mcrae with 20 points each, cruised to a 79-43 win over the Lady Spartans, while Clarke's boys held off West Hall 77-72.
Adeduntan dominated play at times despite being hampered with the flu, while McRae got some bragging rights over her cousin Kesha McRae of West Hall, who finished with five points for the Lady Spartans.
West Hall (4-8) had only one girl in double figures, Lindsey Cressey with 10. Jessica Williams chipped in nine for the Spartans.
Kristi King and Tommika Gary added 10 apiece for Clarke Central (10-5).
"I'm just glad that we're starting to play well," said Lady Gladiator coach Cedrica Jones. "We started in the Christmas Tournament- had a great tournament in the Nike/Peach State- and then we came in here. I told the girls, 'let's take it one game at a time'."
In the boys' match-up, Clarke pulled away from a see-saw game that was tied four times in the first half. Several times, West Hall cut the lead only to have the Glads bump it back, and finally win by five points.
Clarke (11-3) at timeS would use whole-sale substitutions, and coach Billy Wade said that was big.
"The key to the whole situation was our second unit, " Wade pointed out.
Wade said that unit,"was able to come in and give us points and bring the defensive pressure we('ve) been wanting all year. If we can build on this right here, we think we'll be okay going down the stretch."
Clarke was led by Jimmy Howard with 20, with Corey Hill adding 11 points. The Spartans (8-5) were paced by Martrez Milner with 17; Matt Woodruff with 15; Trent Smallwood with 14; and Michael Whiting with 12.
West Hall now must turn around and face another strong challenge Saturday night when Gainesville comes in (WDUN-Newstalk 550 AM).
Lady Spartan coach Steve Sweat saw some reason for hope, despite a lop-sided loss to Gainesville at the Lanierland Tournament.
"They wound up beating us 20 points, I think it was, " Sweat said, but pointed out with around five or six minutes left in the game, West Hall only trailed by five. "Then we went real cold. I believe I figured up they out-scored us like 16-2 down the stretch."
Four of the male Spartans' five losses have come to schools within Hall County, but West Hall coach Warren Sellers said this is where you want to be if you are a hoops coach.
"There's good competition, " Sellers said. "the kids really get fired up for it, and (it) makes for some great rivalries."
The Lady Elephants come in off a 72-41 win over North Forsyth, while the Gainesville boys dropped a close one to Forsyth, 57-52. Girls action starts at 6 PM.
Elsewhere, the East Hall girls have still lost but one after dominating Lumpkin County 57-22, while the East Hall boys also won easily over Lumpkin 86-65.
The Vikings will host Johnson starting at 7:00 Saturday night (WGGA- AM 1240). Johnson was swept by Fannin County Friday night: 47-34 girls and 70-57 boys.
Elsewhere, the Lakeview boys lost at Providence 51-50. There was no varsity girls' game there. Central Gwinnett swept Habersham Central: 73-41 girls and 69-43 boys; and White County and Greater Atlanta Christian split with GAC taking the girls' contest 69-47, and White winning a 101-91 shootout in the boys'. South Forsyth's boys beat Blessed Trinity 72-45.
Thursday
May 1st, 2025
11:49AM
