Both the Gatewood girls’ and boys’ basketball teams were in action Monday night in Eatonton, where they hosted the John Hancock Academy Rebels out of Sparta.
The Lady Gators won 52-44 to reach a 2-1 record so far this season, while the Gatewood boys prevailed 80-39 in their season opener.
“I thought we did very well in controlling the pace of the ball game,” Gatewood girls head coach Jordan Walters said. “I thought our defense looked really good, getting in our spots, getting a lot of steals for a lot of transition baskets.
And then our five-on-five were very patient, which is something we’ve been working on, getting a good shot versus a rushed shot.”
Led by sophomores Ellie McMillian and Kindall Ward, the Lady Gators had the game firmly in hand at 39-23 by halftime. At that point, Walters chose to get her JV players some playing time and game experience in the second half.
“We let our JV play some because John Hancock is so limited in numbers, so we subbed a good bit,” Walters explained. “I thought they handled business really well.”
It was a similar story once the boys took the court. The Gators racked up a 31-12 lead by the end of the opening quarter and had already let off the gas by halftime with a 44-23 advantage on the scoreboard. Likewise, boys’ head coach Don Keiser rested most of his starters for the second half, especially since they had a game Tuesday night in Perry versus Westfield.
The third quarter ended at 68-27 and each team tacked on another 12 points in the fourth to reach the final score.
“I liked the way we played for the first game. I thought the guys played really good,” Keiser said. “They passed it around the top. I liked the way we shot the ball. I liked our press. It was a good warmup game for us.”
Still, he saw room for improvement, too.
“We’ve got to box out better against good teams and I think the guys know we can’t reach against good teams,” Keiser said. “We could get away with reaching some here, but we can’t against a good team, we can’t afford that. We need to play defense with our feet, not reaching with our hands.”
After playing Westfield, the next game for the Gatewood boys is Dec. 7 at home against Windsor Academy, out of Macon. The Lady Gators also will make the trip to face Westfield and will take on the Windsor girls at home next Thursday prior to the boys’ game.