The North Hall girls basketball team dominated defensively en route to a 57-36 win against Lambert on Thursday in the first round of the Region 7-AAA tournament at Creekview High.
North Hall held the Lady Longhorns to 2 points in the first quarter to easily move on.
The Lady Trojans (16-9) built a 15-0 lead out of the gate, and were up 30-10 at halftime.
North Hall’s Mary Kate Rushton led all scorers with 21 points and McKenna Rushton and Sarah Paschall scored eight each.
Jordan Hammer had 10 points to lead first-year Lambert (11-13).
North Hall, the No. 4 seed from Region 7A-AAA, faces East Hall (19-5) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at East Hall with a state berth awaiting the winner.
WEST FORSYTH 41, LUMPKIN COUNTY 28: There was nothing pretty about it, but the Lady Wolverines survived and advanced Thursday.
West Forsyth (17-8) won a grinding, mistake-filled outing against Lumpkin County (2-21) on Creekview’s court, moving on to the second round of the Region 7-AAA tournament.
The Lady Indians made a 12-4 run in the second quarter to briefly take a two-point lead, but lacked any kind of offensive rhythm for the rest of the game.
Kelsey Turchi (15 points) got her 1,000th career point in the first quarter, the first West Forsyth player to hit that milestone.
Emma Thomaswick led Lumpkin with 13 points.
The Lady Wolverines face the winner of Creekview/Johnson at 6 p.m.
Saturday at East Hall. The winner of that game goes to state.
DAWSON COUNTY GIRLS 49, OGLETHORPE COUNTY 7: The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter and didn’t look back en route to a win Thursday in the Region 8-AA tournament.
Carly Gilreath led Dawson with 11 points and Judith Hall scored seven.
Dawson County next plays at 4 p.m. against North Oconee in the second round of the Region 8-AA tournament in Dawsonville.
FANNN COUNTY BOYS 38, UNION COUNTY 35: Tyler McClure led Fannin County with 16 points in a win Thursday in the first round of the Region 8-AA tournament.
Seth Merritt led the way for Union County with nine points.
Fannin County moves on to face Jefferson at 5:30 tonight at Dawson County in the second round of the region tournament.
Tennis
Riverside Military Academy defeated Johnson 3-2 on Thursday.
William Anthony and Casey Tanner each picked up wins for the Knights.
For Riverside, Scott Allan along with the doubles teams of Kuke Klaer/Chris Reed and Eric Chow/Austin Johnson earned wins.
Johnson (1-1) returns to action at 4 p.m. Monday against Lambert.
WEST HALL BOYS 5, EAST HALL 0: In singles, Jimmy Kincaid, Connor McFall and Max Wilson each earned straight set wins Thursday at East Hall.
The doubles teams of Tyler Bugamy/Stephen Backus and Andrew Johnson and Tatum Scroggs also earned straight set wins, shutting out their opponents.
The Spartans (2-1, 1-0 Region 7B-AAA) return to action Tuesday against Johnson.