Jackets finish first week of region play
The first week of 5A Region 7 boys and girls basketball games are in the books and both Calhoun teams are very much looking the part of contenders after the first two outings.
The Calhoun girls are off to a 2-0 start in the league while the boys team is 1-1 with both roundball clubs having another big pair of showdowns this week.
BOYS
While everybody was getting ready for a winter storm Friday and Saturday, the Yellow Jackets may have put together their best stretch of basketball this year with a pair of one-sided victories in about 24 hours.
Friday night, the Yellow Jackets got into the win column in league with an 86-35 blistering of Woodland to put them even in the league after the initial week of play.
And then Saturday night, they got off to another big start to take a stirring 72-40 victory over archrival Dalton in a non-region contest in Whitfield County.
Against Woodland, the Jackets put together their best offensive half of the year, scoring 51 points en route to a 51-20 halftime advantage over the
Wolverines.
The hosts, who have come close to the 30-point mark in a couple of different quarters this season, had a 26-point first quarter to take a 26-13 lead at the end of one and followed that up with 25 more in the second to hold an insurmountable lead at the half.
They also had their defense working, holding Woodland to just seven points in the second to put it out of reach.
Coach Vince Layson played his reserves the rest of the way, but the damage was done and those guys didn’t let up, topping their guests, 17-7 in the
third for a 68-27 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Calhoun’s twin towers of 6-foot-8 Dylan Faulkner and 6-foot-6 Peyton Law led the way offensively with Law scoring 19 points while Faulkner had 18 in the win.
Senior guard Darian Hayes came off the bench to score 10 points while junior Caden Schild did the same and dropped in eight points.
The Yellow Jackets kept their foot on the gas at both ends of the floor the next night in Dalton, scoring 23 points in the second period to race out to a big lead and never look back.
Getting it done at both ends of the floor early on, Layson’s troops were up 23-10 at the end of the first quarter. While it was closer in the second, they still outdid the hosts, 16-12, and were in control, 39-22, at the intermission.
The Yellow Jackets ended the Catamounts’ hopes in the third period, outscoring them 21-5 to hold a huge 60-27 advantage heading into the final frame.
Dalton, like Woodland the night before, had no answer for the visitors inside as Faulkner paced the team offensively with 20 points while Law added 14 as they were the only two players in double figures.
The Yellow Jackets got points from nine different players.
Calhoun had a pair of Region 7 games scheduled this week as the first half is to end next Tuesday night. The boys were at Cass Tuesday night (details were not available at press time) and return home Friday evening to play Cartersville before they close the first half of the league slate next Tuesday at Blessed Trinity.
The Yellow Jackets began the week at 9-5 overall.
GIRLS
It was a week of nailbiters for head coach Jaime Echols’ basketball team with a blowout mixed in as well.
On the heels of taking their 5A Region 7 opener last Tuesday with a 47-46 win over Hiram, the Yellow Jackets finished the first week of league activity last Friday night at the Hive with a 69-11 conquest of Woodland.
But on Saturday night, the Yellow
Jackets went out of the Region to face Dalton in a non-league road game and they lost by a tight 48-46 count to the Lady Catamounts.
In the win over Woodland, the Lady Jackets got things going early and would not be stopped.
Freshman Si’Niah Dorsey scored a season-high 18 points to lead the locals and fellow freshman Katherine Atha had 14 more as Calhoun was ahead by over 30 points at halftime.
Against Dalton, junior guard Britiya Curtis paced her team with 18 points and Dorsey added 10 more in a losing cause.
The Yellow Jackets had a crucial showdown Tuesday night at Cass (details were not available at press time) and will be home Tuesday night to meet Cartersville in another pair of Region 7 contests.
At the end of the first week of 5A Region 7 games, Calhoun, Cass, and Blessed Trinity were all off to 2-0 starts and they all play each other this week and next Tuesday night as the first half of the league schedule comes to an end.
Hiram, Cartersville, and Woodland all started this week with an 0-2 mark.
Calhoun is now 12-4 overall with two of those four losses coming to Dalton.