Lakeview Academy picked up its season-high ninth consecutive win with a 82-28 victory against Tallulah Falls on Friday night at the Walters Athletic Center.

"It’s important to play well at this time of the year," Lakeview coach Seth Vining said. "I don’t know if the streak is important, but it’s important to play well."

There was little doubt that the Lions (15-7, 7-0 Region 8N-A) would continue their winning streak, as Lakeview started the game on a 12-2 run and never looked back.

Using a high-pressure, full-court defense, the Lions forced 22 turnovers in the first half en route to a 52-21 lead at the break.

"We work on defense every day at practice," said Lakeview’s junior point guard Haughton Carswell, who finished the game with nine points, five assists and four steals. "We’re strong on the defensive end of the floor and it’s good to turn up the pressure."

With a comfortable 31-point lead coming out of the locker room, the Lions started the third quarter with a 13-0 run and held the Indians (1-18, 1-7) scoreless for the first three minutes of the second half.

Using the large lead to their advantage, the Lions kept the defensive pressure at a high level and used the offensive end of the floor to work on things that may help in the playoffs.

"We worked on different things throughout the game," Carswell said. "Sometimes we would work on getting the ball inside and other times we would work on getting outside shots."

One thing that the Lions didn’t need to work on was getting every member of the team involved in the scoring, as 13 of the 15 players on the roster put points on the board.

"Balanced scoring is very important," Vining said. "It’s something that we’ve been working on all year and the more and more we play the more balance we have scoring and I’m pleased with that."

According to the point guard, getting everyone involved is not a difficult task..

"We have a bunch of people that can put the ball in the hole," Carswell said. "It’s real easy to distribute the ball."

Senior David Pruett led the Lions’ balanced attack with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Tyler Ward added 14 points and Nick Saye pulled down eight rebounds for Lakeview.

Tallulah Falls was led by Abdul Deen’s 16 points and 18 rebounds.

Lakeview will look to keep its winning streak alive when it travels to Lumpkin County to take on the Leopards at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Lakeview Academy girls 68, Tallulah Falls 37

Lakeview Academy forced 44 turnovers by Tallulah Falls en route to a 31-point victory against the Lady Indians on Friday night.

Senior Brooke Windle scored 16 points and had five steals for the Lady Lions (9-9, 8-3), who bounced back from a loss to Jefferson on Tuesday.

Three other Lady Lions scored in double figures, with Maddie Haymore scoring 13 and Laura Jacobs and Brittany Moore scoring 10 points each.

Lakeview’s defense frustrated the winless Lady Indians (0-17, 0-11) all night, forcing double-digit turnovers in each quarter, including 16 in the third quarter.

As a team, the Lady Lions recorded 23 steals, with Moore leading the way with seven.

Senior Jill Gabrels was the lone bright spot for Tallulah Falls, scoring 29 of the team’s 37 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Lakeview Academy travels to Lumpkin County tonight.