Lady Hawks, Hawks win against Headland

The Daleville girls basketball team won Jan. 24 on the road 42-39 against Headland despite a challenge from the Lady Rams.

"It was a crazy game," DHS girls basketball coach Zach Kelley said. "It was pretty close. It was a nail-biter, but that was a good team. It’s good for us to play a (Class) 5A team that’s really tall. They had some (tall) girls inside, and they were athletic. It was a good game to play to get us ready."

The Lady Hawks led 12-8 at the end of the opening frame.

Headland outscored DHS 11-6 in the second to take a 19-18 lead at the end of the half after it used pressure, which Kelley said took its toll on the Lady Hawks.

"The first quarter…it was really a fast-paced game up and down," he said. "We got a lead there early on and then kind of held on in the first quarter. The second quarter I think their pressure started wearing on us a little bit. We got frustrated, and they took the halftime lead by one."

At the half, the Lady Hawks were reassured of their strategies.

"I told the girls to settle down and just run our offense," Kelley said. "If they run man (defense), we’ve got certain things for that. If they run zone, we’ve got certain things for that. We just came up with a game plan for the second half. We had a good third quarter and held on in the fourth."

Daleville scored 12 points in the third quarter and allowed six to grab a 30-25 advantage after the third quarter.

The press Kelley adjusted earlier in the year continues to pay dividends for the Lady Hawks.

"Every time we would press them we would have good things happen," he said. "We kept pressing in the second half. In the second quarter, I kind of let off. I fell back into a zone, and that’s when they started scoring a little bit. I got back in the press and kept doing that. That kind of messed them up a little bit."

La'Jasha Fils-Aime' led with 18 points. Aleecea Harris followed with 12, and Kenyetta Stephens had eight. Kiarra Pouncy and Raiven Hallford each had two.

"It was really just back and forth," Kelley said. "We’re like mirror images, really. (We’ve got) really athletic, quick guards. We’ve got (tall) post (players) down low. They were the same way."

The win against Headland is one Kelley believes could help Daleville in the future.

"I think it’s going to be very beneficial for us," he said. "Everybody we see in the playoffs is going to be good so we’ve got to have our ‘A’ game from the tip. They made us get ready, because if we weren’t ready for them they were going to embarrass us. We had to come out with some fire and play four quarters."

Hawks stifle Headland

Daleville defeated Headland 67-51, thanks in part to solid new defense to which the Warhawks adjusted on the fly.

"(It was) a lot better defense," DHS boys basketball coach Blake Garner said. "We’d never run it before, and I installed it in about a three-minute walkthrough before we left (for the game). We got out of it the last two minutes of the game."

The details of Daleville's new defense were kept under wraps, but Garner said it helped the players get out on the Rams' shooters better.

"Most definitely," he said. "When we played them before (earlier in the season), their three shooters had 23, 15 and 11 (points). Tonight, they had 17, 13 and 11. They only hit 6 3s, and two of those were in the fourth quarter."

The Warhawks had a 14-11 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Daleville outscored the Rams 17-11 in the second to open up a 31-22 lead at the half.

Headland added 15 points in the third quarter, and the Warhawks added 13 to secure the final margin.

"We only shot four 3-pointers," Garner said. 'We didn’t make any of them, but we only shot four instead of 20. We were (27-of-49) from the field, which is well over 50 percent. (It was) much better. Shemar Dixon…was 10-for-11 from the field. Free throws, we were 11-of-14."

Kainan Pouncy lead DHS with 22 points, and Dixon followed with 20. Jaymiane Fils-Aime' had nine, and Jerry White added seven.

"For the most part, we were patient," Garner said. "We were able to get out on the break some, a little bit, not much. They had to change defenses quite a bit. We were just patient most of the time. We took good shots."

Daleville pulled down 25 defensive rebounds against the Rams, which Garner said is an increase of 14 from the previous game.

 "I think the defense is what did it, just the little spark in that," he said. "We kind of got away from some things I do a lot. I just wanted something a little different. That game could have easily been 67-51 the other way tonight, but they went in there focused, they listened to some detail and we went and executed."