Published: December 26, 2008 09:52 pm            

Dalton drops two games in Cass Hoopfest

Now, that’s letting one get away from you. Big time.

Dalton’s Catamounts raced to a 30-12 first-quarter lead but were undone by 18 second-half turnovers and Stone Mountain’s 31-point fourth quarter, losing to the Pirates, 80-71, in the first round of the 13th Holiday Hoopfest on Friday at Cass High School in Cartersville.

Appearing in the same tournament at Cass, the Dalton girls dropped a 53-51 decision to Fort Payne, Ala., and joined the Cats in the losers bracket.

While the Cats return to the court today to face Buford, three other area teams — Northwest Whitfield’s boys and girls and Murray County’s girls — also swing into holiday action.

The Lady Bruins (9-0) play Peachtree Ridge at 2 p.m. in the Deep South Classic at Brookwood High School in Snellville.

The Bruins (4-2) open defense of their LaFayette Christmas tournament title by taking on Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe at 5:30 p.m.

Also at LaFayette, the Lady Indians (5-2) will play Trion in a 4 p.m. contest.

Southeast’s girls and boys will begin play in the Knoxville Catholic Winter Classic on Monday, facing Campbell County in 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. games, respectively.

Dalton (3-6) was up 30-9, in part because Kelly Phillips scored 10 points and Caz Cole had six, but the Pirates seemingly got a boost from a last-second 3-pointer as the first quarter ended.

Coach Andrew Sullivan’s Pirates outscored the Cats 17-5 in the second quarter and trailed 35-29 at halftime, setting up Stone Mountain’s charge to its third consecutive victory after a five-game losing streak.

“Everything that went in in the first quarter, didn’t drop in the second quarter,” Dalton coach Mike Duffie said. “In the second quarter, we were 2-of-21 from the field and 16 of those misses came in the paint. They were either layups or putbacks. We can’t get better shots.”

Dalton held its own with the Pirates in the third quarter and were leading 52-49 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Then the Pirates, getting 10 points from Rodney Princeton to offset 14 by Dalton’s Shaquon Moore, scuttled any idea the Cats had of avenging an 80-52 loss to Stone Mountain on Feb. 24, 2007, in the Class 4A state tournament with their monster fourth-quarter outburst.

“We just quit handling the ball,” Duffie said. “We made poor passes, used some poor judgment and shot ourselves in the foot. Those 18 turnovers led directly to 30 points.”

Despite the avalanche of points, Stone Mountain didn’t take the lead until about four minutes were left in the game.

Princeton led the Pirates (5-8) with 20 points and Kinley Branch, a 6-foot-6-inch post, added 18.

Moore led the Cats with 19 points. Cole and Phillips finished with 18 each.

“They’re a heck of a ballclub,” Duffie said of Stone Mountain. “I told the kids after the game we proved we can play with anybody we go up against. I mean we’re up 30-9 and they can’t guard us and we were doing a lot of good things and it just went away. We have to finish games. We’re not doing that, especially against good teams with good athletes. We need consistency and leadership and hopefully we’ll start winning these games. I know it’s frustrating for the kids because it’s frustrating for me.”

The Cats play Buford (0-5) today at noon in a losers bracket game. Buford lost to Chamblee on Friday.

Coach Jeff McKinney’s Lady Catamounts dropped a heartbreaker against Fort Payne, which got a game-high 29 points from Alicia Williams. Kate Houston’s 3-point shot at the final buzzer was blocked. Houston had made a 3 about 20 seconds earlier to bring the Lady Cats (6-4) to within one point at 52-51, McKinney said. Fort Payne’s Williams made 1-of-2 free throws for the final 53-51 margin.

“It was a two- or four-point game most all the way,” McKinney said. “I don’t think we ever went ahead after the first quarter. We played well but they’re a good ballteam and Williams is one of the best players we’ve played against. She scored from outside, she posted up. She did whatever she wanted to do and we had no answer for her.”

Markisha Washington led the Lady Cats with 15 points. Emily Broadrick had 14 points and Amanda Rector 11.

The loss snapped Dalton’s three-game winning streak in which the Lady Cats won by an average if 16 points.

“We had our chances,” McKinney said. “We missed a lot of shots we don’t normally miss and I can’t tell you why. Unlike us, we missed some easy shots too.”

Tori Edwards added 12 points for Fort Payne, which advances to a second-round game on Monday at 6 p.m. against the Cartersville-Chamblee winner. Dalton will face the Cartersville-Chamblee loser on Monday at noon.

MS basketball

� New Hope seventh girls 24, Dalton 10: Mallory Souther scored 10 points and Casey Quarles added six for the Lady Kodiaks in the Christmas tournament at Gladden Middle School.

Destinee Woods and Macie Noles scored four points each for Dalton’s Lady Cougars.

� Valley Point seventh girls 24, New Hope 21: Erin Harden, Serena Ramsey and Tosha Bridges scored six points apiece for the Lady Green Waves.

Kerrigan King led the Lady Kodiaks in their second game of the day with seven points and Souther finished with six.

� North Whitfield eighth girls 35, Gladden 22: Emily Boyd and Mykeah Johnson each scored 11 points for the Lady Pioneers.

Madison Wilcox had six for the Lady Warriors.

        

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