GAINESVILLE—Gainesville High girls basketball coach Manson Hill could have been more pleased, but he was nonetheless happy with the way his Lady Red Elephants concluded the Jackson EMC Lanierland Tournament.

The top-seeded Lady Red Elephants (7-2) rebounded from a loss to North Hall on Friday night and cruised past Flowery Branch with a 54-31 victory, claiming third place.

"We obviously don’t play for third place," Hill said. "But we came out and competed hard and came out with a lot more intensity (in Saturday’s game). ... That was more important to us."

Gainesville, who took a 33-13 lead into the intermission, came out focused in the third quarter. The Lady Red Elephants utilized a tough 1-3-1 full-court press, resulting in easy two-point buckets for junior forward Jaymee Carnes.

Carnes finished the game with 10 points.

"Jaymee is a hard worker," Hill said.

"She’s real competitive and she’s working on becoming a well-rounded player. She defends well, she runs the floor, she works hard and she shoots the ball real well. She’s just real fun to coach."

Gainesville junior Taylor Ricketts, who is assuming point guard duties for the injured Kiana Glasper, finished the game with 10 points.

"Taylor’s one of our best shooters," Hill said. "Taylor did a good job of running the point position today. If she stays calm, then she can do a good job of getting our team into our offense."

Hill added that the Lady Red Elephants have a lot to work on as they enter back into region play.

"We have to work on playing with more intensity," Hill said. "We also need to put together a complete game. We’ve done a better job on limiting turnovers."

Molly May led Flowery Branch (5-3) with eight points.

Gainesville plays host to Lumpkin County at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Flowery Branch visits North Hall at 6 p.m. Monday.