— The Calhoun Lady Jackets got off to a slow start, by their standards, against Woodland in the first half, but relaxed by the third period and rolled to a 5538 quarter final victory in the Holiday Festival Basketball Tournament Wednesday night at Georgia Highlands.
After jumping out to a 13-5 lead after only three minutes of play, Calhoun went ice cold for nine minutes, and didn’t knock down a shot until midway through the second period of play.
By halftime, the Lady Jackets held a 21-17 lead, but head coach Jerry Pruett was not pleased with the effort his team put forth early.
“Obviously, I’m glad that we won, I just don’t think that we played very smart,” he said. “We had way too many turnovers, made too many errors. Give Woodland credit, they came and played hard.”
Woodland threw
its best effort at Calhoun, and Sydney Boyd, in particular, proved to be a menace early against the Lady Jackets. She finished with 13 points, two rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
“I think we just made some shots,” Pruett said. “We went about nine minutes without making a shot (in the first half). We had some steals and made some shots that made us more relaxed.”
From the start of the third period, it was a dif- ferent ball game, and Calhoun took control and never looked back, scoring 20 in the quarter.
With a 41-27 lead before the final frame Calhoun played calm and coasted to a semi-final berth in the tournament.
Leading Calhoun was Sydnie Parker, who scored 17 points, secured five rebounds, blocked three shots, distributed three assists and stole a couple balls.
Backing her up were Ashlyn Barnes and Jana Johns, who scored nine and eight points, respectively.
Woodland played in a consolation game today against Pepperell at Berry College on Thursday.
Calhoun faced Model on Thursday at Georgia Highlands College but Pruett said his team would have to improve its play if it wants to advance to the finals. (For details on that game, see Wednesday’s Calhoun Times.)
“I don’t think we did the fundamental things, so that’s what I was disappointed in,” he said. “It’s got to change if we want to have a chance to beat Model. We’ve got to play smarter.”