In the opening game, the defending state AAA champion 9th-rated Lady Elephants defeated the Lady Cats 76-25. Gainesville jumped off to a 19-8 first quarter lead, extended the lead to a 42-12 halftime advantage, increased the lead to 61-16 at the end of three quarters and cleared the bench in the fourth quarter in route to the rout.
Tasha Humphrey led Gainesville, as the 6-3 sophomore scored 30 points in three quarters of play. Taurus Hendrix had 13 and Sarah Westmoreland had 12 points, all coming from three-point land.
Humphrey has been named to the Atlanta Tipoff Club's girls' team of the month.
Lady Elephant coach Manson Hill says his team is playing good basketball right now.
"I thought we did a great job of moving the basketball and getting everybody involved, " Hill said. "All of our players came with good intensity. Gilmer is a little bit down right now, and I think we took 'em out of their game. I'm just real happy with the way we played."
In the nightcap, the Elephants led Gilmer 29-5
after the end of the first period and never looked back. Gainesville led 50-11 at the half,
70-25 at the three-quarter mark, and coasted to an 86-41 region win.
Brent Benson had 14 points, Brandon Sims and Sharaud Curry 12 points each, followed by Steven Pettit with 10 points to lead Gainesville's offense.
"This win comes at the right time, " said Gainesville boys' coach Virgil Amey. ""We've been struggling the past couple of ball games, so it was a good night to play a team that we were more superior than."
Gainesville travels to Johnson Friday night for another region doubleheader, which will be brodadcast on AM-1240,WGGA.
In other Tuesday action, North Hall split with Oconee County, with the Oconee girls winning 53-37, while the Trojan boys came on strong to win 64-53.
North Hall's 13th ranked boys, coming off an upset loss to White County struggled in the first half, before pulling out the win.
"I think it carried over from Saturday night," said Trojan coach Greg Williams with a slight chuckle. "We just hadn't found our stride yet. I've gotta commend some kids that came off the bench for us and got us back in the game; and just did a great job."
Williams also pointed out his team did a good job on the boards, saying they were 8-3 overall, but 0-and-3 when they've been outrebounded.
"I think tonight we got back on the winning track because we outrebounded Oconee, " Willams said.
East Hall swept Dawson County with the girls winning 45-38, and the male Vikings getting an 80-70 victory despite the absence of Matt Causey who has withdrawn from school and is said to be transferring to Berkmar.
West Hall split with Habersham Central with the Hab girls taking a narrow 68-65 win, and the Spartan boys winning the nightcap, 76-71.
Johnson split with Forsyth Central. Forsyth won the girls' game 44-35, while Johnson took the boys' 73-54.
Jackson County swept Loganville: 59-54 girls, and 56-46 boys.
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