The Gilmer Lady Cats defeated Southeast Whitfield on Tuesday night, Jan. 7, in Dalton by the score of 48-31.
The Lady Cats couldn’t get a lot of shots to fall in the first quarter, but stout defense and forced turnovers helped Gilmer pull away and take the lead into halftime, 24-14.
The second half consisted of more forced turnovers by the Lady Cats defense and good rebounding. The offense took and made some good shots down the stretch as well and Gilmer was able to pull away for good.
Junior Hope Colwell brings the ball up the floor in recent action for the Lady Cats.
Emma Callihan led all scorers with 14 points, Elly Callihan added 12 points, Jalynn Ledford had eight points, and Bailey Teague finished with five points.
Coach Susan Nunn said after the game, “It feels good to get a region win. That puts us at 7-0, so we’re sitting on top. We’re very pleased with that.”
“This wasn’t our best game of the season, but we played pretty good defense and were able to hold on and get the win”, Nunn added.
On the forced turnovers: “The Lady Raiders hung tight during the first quarter, but we got good pressure and forced some turnovers. That’s kind of our game and it made a big difference.”
On the Callihan sisters: “When our inside and outside game are going, it’s going to be a good night for us. Elly did a great job of getting rebounds for us tonight. She and Emma are a good family tandem and we’re happy to have them.”
On next week’s games against Heritage and Ridgeland: “Two more region games, should be games that we win. Both of those teams are gonna come at you, so we’ve got to get our inside game going and get our guards out there doing a good job on the press. I feel good about them and I feel that we should do well next week.”
Last night’s win gives the Lady Cats an overall record of 12-5 (7-0 Region 6-4A) They stand atop the standings in the region and Southeast Whitfield falls to 4-14 overall and 1-6 in the region.
Gilmer plays their next game at Heritage in Ringgold on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.