Lithonia’s Ja’Miah Dale (with ball) converts a steal into a basket against Druid Hills’ Nola Grant (right). (Photo by Mark Brock)
Lithonia’s high school basketball teams went on the road to Druid Hills for a sweep of their Region 5-4A openers on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs (3-2, 1-0) put four players in double figures as they opened the night at Druid Hills with a 69-24 region victory over the host Lady Red Devils (0-1, 0-1).
Essence Grier opened the game hitting three consecutive free throws to give Lithonia a 3-0 lead and she would go on to score a game-high 24 points.
A pair of old fashioned three-point plays converted by Ja’Miah Dale and Shaj Cline propelled the Bulldogs to a 13-1 start. Myiah Cutler finished off the big quarter for Lithonia with a pair of baskets in the final 1:20 of the quarter to make it a 20-6 lead after one quarter of play.
Druid Hills would get a lone three-pointer from Kayla Kennedy in the second quarter while Grier would score nine points (2 three-pointers) by herself as the lead expanded to 36-9 at the half.
Grier opened the second half where she left off putting the first five points on the scoreboard to up the lead to 41-9 less than a minute into the third quarter. She would later add a three-point play and a three-pointer for a quarter high of 11 points to extend the margin to 37 points (58-21) with a quarter to play.
Druid Hills hit four treys in the third period, three by Marcavia Johnson and another by Kennedy but it was not enough to close the gap.
Grier finished the night with three more points in the fourth quarter and Johnson hit her fourth three of the night as Lithonia finished off the night with a 69-24 win.
Myiah Cutler joined Grier in double figures with 13 points while Ja’Miah Dale (11 points) and Shaj Cline tacked on 10 more. Johnson finished the night with 12 points (4 three-pointers) and six rebounds for Druid Hills.
Lithonia’s Rayshun Williams (2) drives inside past Druid Hills’ Reese Hamburger (11) during the Bulldogs 75-47 Region 5-4A win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
BOYS
Lithonia 75, Druid Hills 47
The Lithonia Bulldogs pulled away from a 4-4 tie early in the first quarter to knock off the Druid Hills Red Devils 75-47 in the Region 5-4A openers for both teams at Druid Hills on Tuesday.
A pair of three-pointers by Rayshun Williams and two offensive put backs by Caleb Cooper added up to a 10-2 in the opening period of play to aid the Bulldogs in pulling away to a 17-9 lead heading into the second period.
Jamari Allen’s three-pointer with 5:37 left in the first half had the Bulldogs (2-2, 1-0) up by 15 (26-11) before a last minute by the Red Devils (0-3, 0-1) on baskets by Oluremi Guerrero and Reese Hamburger closed the gap to 33-20 at the half.
Dakota Freeman’s three the 6:15 mark closed the gap to singles digits (36-27) for the last time in the game. Lithonia answered the run by the Red Devils with three consecutive threes, two from Omar Thim and a third from Cameron Hicks to open a 16-point lead.
Tyler Cook hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left in the quarter to send the Bulldogs into the fourth quarter with a solid 53-35 lead.
Five more points from Williams as the lead continued to grow early in the fourth quarter to a 61-38 advantage.
Williams finished the game with 24 points and was joined in double figures by Na’Kyiz Davis with 10 points as well as six rebounds.
Dakota Freeman finished with 16 points and Reese Hamburger added 11.