Lakeview Academy, the seventh-place team a year ago, finished fifth at Lanierland this year with a 79-56 win over West Hall on Wednesday at Johnson.
The Lions (8-3), who went 2-1 at the tournament, were led by Austin Montgomery with 25 points. While Lakeview has finished higher in the tournament in the past by virtue of winning the opening game (which guarntees at worse fourth), this is the first time the Lions have won two of three at Lanierland.
"This is a first for our program," said Lakeview coach Seth Vining. "I really feel like the guys represented the school very well."
The Lions blew open a 26-26 game midway through the second quarter with a 15-0 run to reach the break ahead 41-26. Montgomery keyed the run with nine of the half's final 15 points, including converting a traditional 3-point play with seconds left.
During the stretch Matt Askounis (four points) also drew three charges, which Vining said was a key moment.
Austin Pearson finished with 11 and Trevor Price scored 10 for the Lions.
Lakeview returns to action Dec. 30 at home against White County.
West Hall (6-6) was led by Rico Jones (16 points) and Hunter Atkinson (11).
Lakeview Academy took down Johnson 80-61 on Tuesday to reach the fifth place game, while West Hall held off Chestatee 81-76.
JEFFERSON GIRLS 53, FLOWERY BRANCH 47: In the span of 32 minutes, the Jefferson girls basketball team demonstrated how to jump out to a significant lead and, more importantly, how to hang on to it in the face of a desperate comeback.
After leading Flowery Branch by as many as 15 points in a Lanierland consolation game Wednesday at Johnson High, the Lady Dragons saw their lead dwindle to just two points with less than three minutes to go in the game.
But behind a couple of late free throws and some stifling defense, Jefferson was able to hang on for a 53-47 victory, closing out the tournament with back-to-back wins.
“I’m glad we had a cushion,” Jefferson coach Jason Gibson said after the game. “It got a little tighter late in the game, but we hung on. I was real proud of our girls for that.”
The Lady Dragons (5-7) held a 34-19 lead late in the third quarter when Flowery Branch began to mount its comeback.
The Lady Falcons (5-6) closed the quarter on an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 35-27 going into the fourth. They continued that run into the fourth quarter, opening up on an 8-1 spurt to trim the lead down to 36-35 with 5:33 remaining.
“We started to get frustrated by their defense,” Gibson said. “(We) started to turn the ball over. I just knew that if we got into the situation where they had to foul us, we’d be able to hang on.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
While the Lady Dragons struggled at the line in the closing minutes, missing the front end of three straight trips to the line, they were able to make just enough to keep the game out of reach.
“We finally made a couple there,” Gibson said. “I still wanted them to be aggressive and go score there to keep the pressure on, but when we got a couple to fall at the line, we were able to hang on.”
Jefferson was in the position to hang on late because of its hot start in the first quarter. The Lady Dragons scored 15 in the first, 12 of which came from Skylar Evanson. She knocked down four 3-pointers in the quarter to pace the offense early. She added a fifth 3-pointer in the third quarter to finish with 15 points in the game.
“She’s a great shooter,” Gibson said. “She’s one of those girls that’s got the green light when she’s got the ball in her hands. We’ve been telling her to keep shooting, and that helped us to get off to a good start.”
Rachel Goza and Brianna Whatley added 15 and 12 points for the Lady Dragons, respectively.
Flowery Branch was paced by Jacy Ramey’s 18 points. Cara Chilton added 10 and Tavia Sykes added eight.
Jefferson will play next at Hart County on Jan. 3; Flowery Branch will host West Forsyth on the same day.
WEST HALL GIRLS 48, JOHNSON 37: The Lady Spartans jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back in their final consolation game at the Lanierland tournament on Wednesday,.
LeNiesha Kearse was a force for West Hall (4-9), scoring a team-high 11 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the game.
“She was great for us today,” West Hall coach Lynn Jarrett said.
West Hall started early, jumping out to a 7-2 lead when Jensen Hall knocked down a 3-pointer followed by two free throws by Kearse.
The lead was down to 9-7 at the end of the first, but a dominant second quarter gave the Lady Spartans a secure lead.
Jessica Dambach knocked down two 3-pointers in the quarter to lead a 9-1 run that gave West Hall a 25-14 lead at the half. Dambach finished with 10 points in the game.
“I was really pleased with the fast start,” Jarrett said. “We’ve had some slow starts this year, which have put us in a hole early, but I thought we did a really good job of playing well early.”
Johnson (1-10) matched West Hall in the second half, but was unable to mount a strong enough run to make a dent in the Lady Spartans’ lead.
Johnson’s Lyndsey Pethel led all scorers with 14 points. Emily Byers added seven.
The Lady Spartans play next at North Hall on Dec. 30. Johnson will host North Forsyth in the Johnson Holiday Shootout on Dec. 28.
JOHNSON 83, CHESTATEE 73: Chestatee were nipping at the heels of Johnson for the entire game, and even held a slim 1-point lead at the half.
In the end, however, it was a dominant performance by the Knights’ Ty Odem that kept the War Eagles from picking up their first win.
Odem, now the main threat for Knights in the absence of senior Matt Hollis, who is out with a meniscus injury, scored 32 points and eight rebounds to pace his team.
Johnson (5-6) trailed 35-34 at halftime, but came out of the locker room strong, putting 27 points on the board in the third quarter and jumping in front by four points.
The Knights pushed their lead to as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, 77-64 after Montrell McKenzie put back a missed basket. McKenzie finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Chestatee (0-11) battled back to within eight points, but with not enough time on the clock.
With under a minute remaining, Chestatee drove down the court on a fast break following a turnover, but, as if putting the exclamation point on the victory, Odem stormed in from behind to block the would-be lay in off the backboard.
The War Eagles were led in the losing effort by Cole Morgan (26 points), Keelan Passmore (16 points) and Lucas Bennett (12 points).
A.J. Benefield added 18 for Johnson.
Johnson will face North Forsyth next in the Johnson Holiday Shootout at Johnson High. Chestatee takes on Sequoyah at the Pickens Holiday Tournament at Pickens High on Dec. 27.