Lady Phoenix roll on with two more wins
♦ Sonoraville girls have collected 14 victories in their first 16 games
It was a good weekend for the Sonoraville High School girls basketball team.
They were already on a roll heading into the weekend, but two more wins not only put them atop the Region 7-4A, it also gave them 14 victories in their first 16 games.
In a span of less than 24 hours, the Lady Phoenix started Region 7-4A action Friday night with a 48-17 hammering of Southeast Whitfield and Saturday afternoon, they avenged one of their two losses on the season with a not-really-that-close 68-52 triumph over now 13-2 Pickens County at the packed Furnace.
In their win over SE Whitfield, in a year of excellent defense, the Phoenix might have played their best game yet, shutting the Lady Raiders out in not one, but two different quarters.
It also was the second straight game they held the opposition to just 17 points after they held Adairsville to that many last Tuesday night in defeating the Lady Tigers, 48-17.
Sonoraville got out to a 9-0 lead at the end of the first period against Southeast and then put things away with a 21-point second quarter, giving them a 30-9 lead at halftime as the home team was finally able to get on the scoreboard, but not by nearly enough.
Sonoraville sophomore guard Ella Kate Walraven had nine of her game-high 11 points in that first half, scoring four points from the foul line in the first quarter and then she had five, including a three, in the second period.
Senior post player Diane Smith had eight of her 10 in that first half as well for the Phoenix, including six in the second when the visitors really took control.
They then put the kibosh on any Southeast Whitfield comeback hopes in the
third quarter, shutting them out again while scoring 10 points to lead 40-19 to begin the fourth period.
Five different players scored two points apiece to account for those 10 points and the Lady Phoenix were perfect at the line going 4-for-4 in the quarter with Walraven and Taylor West connecting on both of their attempts.
Ten different girls scored foverall or Sonoraville and just four different players put in Southeast Whitfield’s points.
The win put Sonoraville in a first-place tie with Northwest Whitfield and Heritage after the first night of 7-4A play with Northwest Whitfield clubbing Cedartown, 66-21, and Heritage defeated Central, 55-36 last Friday night as well.
Head coach Stephanie Caudell’s team will look to hold on to first place in the league this week with two more Region games. They visited Central Tuesday night (details were not available at press time) and then are back at the Furnace Friday night to face Cedartown.
While the win over Pickens County Saturday afternoon did nothing for their Region standings, it was still big for their psyche because it was Pickens that stopped Sonoraville’s early-season roll with a 51-41 triumph over the red-and-black back on Dec. 9.
It was also big because of the way they played, tickling the twine all afternoon long with senior Diane Smith unstoppable in getting the basket as she shot 13 free throws and made nine of them while scoring a game-high 27 points.
At the same time, sophomore guard Erin Garland and senior Kayleigh Kelley reached double-digit scoring and Walraven and Kaydence Turner were close with the
team playing at a high level offensively.
Smith, who also grabbed her share of rebounds, got off to a strong start offensively, almost scoring as many points in the first quarter as Pickens County did.
The 5-foot-8 post had 10 of her team’s 14 in the quarter on five baskets and the home team led 14-11 when the first quarter ended.
The Phoenix began to get some separation in the second quarter, taking its first 10-point lead of the game, 33-23, at the half.
They were up 23-18 when Garland made a breakaway layup and Smith hit a pair of free throws for a 27-18 advantage before a PC three cut it to 27-21 with under three minutes left until halftime.
After the teams traded buckets, a Kelley three-pointer and a Smith free throw pushed the lead back to nine at 3223 and a free throw by Walraven at the 5.6 mark was the final tally of the half.
The visitors began the third quarter with a quick three, but the Phoenix followed up with a 12-0 run and it was never close after that.
A PC trey made it 33-26, but Walraven hit a three, Smith made two free throws, Walraven hit another one from Fairmount, Garland made a layup and Smith had a putback in just under three minutes and Sonoraville’s margin was 45-26.
They would lead 52-34 at the end of the third period on a Kelley three-point as the horn sounded.
The Lady Phoenix would begin the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run in taking their biggest lead of the game at 62-34 before Caudell summoned the reserves.
Garland had 11 points and Kelley finished with 10 in the game while Walraven closed with nine and Turner ended with seven.
The Lady Phoenix are now 14-2 on the season.