Published: December 18, 2009 11:46 pm      

Sweep for Northwest

Bruins, Lady Bruins dispose of Southeast

It doesn’t matter the venue, Northwest Whitfield’s basketball teams have Southeast Whitfield’s number this year in the crosstown rivalry.

Two weeks after the Bruins and Lady Bruins beat Southeast at Dalton with a pair of double-digit victories, they were at it again Friday night in Tunnel Hill. The Lady Bruins defeated the Lady Raiders, 60-47, and the Bruins beat the Raiders, 68-39, to complete the season sweep.

Earlier this month, the Lady Bruins beat host Southeast, 64-18, and the Bruins won, 68-38.

On Friday, the Lady Bruins were led by Christy Robinson’s career-high 25 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. The 6-foot-3-inch senior post took advantage of numerous open looks down low and guided her team in the absence of 6-6 junior post Quaneisha McCurty, who was serving a one-game suspension handed down by Lady Bruins coach Margaret Stockburger.

Stockburger cited disciplinary reasons for suspending McCurty and started Tori Clemmons in her place. Clemmons split time with Carley Fetzer at post and the two combined for 12 points and nine rebounds.

But it was Robinson who carried the Lady Bruins (7-2) over the Lady Raiders (4-6), scoring her team’s first six points and 17 points in the first half.

“They were just playing me with one person and guarding me from behind,” said Robinson, who also had two steals. “My teammates were able to give me the ball and I was able to finish tonight.”

Southeast got an early 5-4 lead and trailed 15-13 after the first quarter.

But Northwest went on a 21-9 run in the second quarter to lead 34-24 at halftime and led by as many as 19 in the third quarter. The Lady Raiders never got any closer than 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Though the game’s final score was heavily in Northwest’s favor, Southeast coach Elizabeth Crane commended her team’s effort, which netted a season-high 13 deflections. Also, the Lady Raiders’ point total was the highest against Northwest since 2006, when they put up 39 in a loss.

“The number of deflections proves that we have the effort and that we’re working together as a team,” Crane said. “Everyone was sharing the ball and everyone was in good defensive stance on help-side and I’m just really proud.”

The Lady Raiders were also down two players after junior post Shelby McFarland and freshman reserve Emily Edgeman quit the team last week. McFarland was one of the Lady Raiders’ top players and was a 2009 Daily Citizen All-Area Team honorable mention.

Northwest’s Kayla Piorkowski scored 10 points, Baleigh Coley had three steals and junior guard Summer Jackson added five points and five rebounds.

Southeast was led by Briana Sosebee’s 16 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Danielle Pearson added 14 points.

In the boys game, Bruins post Michael Kelly started for Nermin Delic, who is sidelined until January after surgery for a broken nose, and stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Ryan Logan had a game-high 17 points and Alex Thames scored 10.

The Bruins (5-4) led after each quarter and were ahead of the Raiders (2-8), 11-8, after the first quarter and 28-17 at halftime and 57-24 after three quarters.

Kelly said the team needed a bounce-back win three days after losing to Dalton, 73-44.

“We haven’t been playing too well,” Kelly said. “We came out wanting to play hard and we did. We played as a team and we knocked down our shots.”

Coach Ryan Richards said the Bruins played with the “blue-collar” swagger that had been missing lately. The Bruins had lost three of their last four games, including an 84-48 defeat to Region 7-4A rival Sequoyah.

“That’s what we were looking for,” Richards said. “We’ve had two good nights of getting after it in practice and I think that carried over onto the court tonight like it’s supposed to. I’m proud of the guys. We ended up using a full 15-man rotation and everybody played hard.”

Raiders coach Josh Carter said he noticed an improved effort from Southeast, but the team still wasn’t aggressive enough.

“I think our effort was tons better,” Carter said. “But we were pretty passive on the offensive end. We’d get into our half-court and didn’t attack very much. We just kind of passed the ball around the perimeter and didn’t look to get to the high-post with the pass and tried to do too much with the dribble.”

Southeast was led by Zach Harper’s nine points, five rebounds and two steals.