CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. -- The Lady Trojans are quick learners.
Gordon Lee girls' basketball coach Lester Galyon and assistant Lee Bohannon taught the team how to play a diamond-and-one defense on Monday. The Lady Trojans used it extensively Tuesday in a 63-49 win over visiting Dade County in a Region 7-AA matchup.
The special defense -- planned if one of Gordon Lee's various full-court defenses didn't work first -- limited the number of times Dade post player Sarah Reid could touch the ball. She was essentially double-teamed before she caught a pass in the post and certainly after, which resulted in her scoring 10 points. Teammate Tori Reed led all players with 17 points.
"We knew we didn't have anybody with the size and strength of Reid, so we were trying to front her and I think we frustrated her some," Galyon said. "She scored some, but she earned them."
Sophomore Sarah Meadows led Gordon Lee with 15 points, and Avrie Weldon added 13. Amanda Pettigrew had 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Tiffany Holland scored 11 points and had six assists.
"We learned that we needed to double on Monday," Weldon said. "It helped a lot. It was our main defense."
Dade County's Cassidy Cole (10) tries to strip the ball from Gordon Lee's Mary Pritchett (21). The Dade County High School Lady Wolverines visited the Gordon Lee High School Lady Trojans in GHSA Basketball action Tuesday night.The full-court press and fresh alignment paid dividends during the second quarter. Gordon Lee forced eight turnovers in that period and held Reid to one point before halftime.
The Lady Trojans (9-5, 3-2) turned a two-point deficit starting the second quarter into a two-point lead with 3:30 to go before halftime. And they turned that into a 35-26 lead when the teams retreated for intermission.
"They did a better job, especially in the second quarter, of doing what they do better than we did of doing what we do," Dade County coach Randy Watson said. "I don't think we played through mistakes."
Dade County (12-4, 1-3) trailed by 18 points midway through the fourth quarter. A spurt pulled the Lady Wolverines within eight, but they couldn't get any closer as Gordon Lee made enough free throws down the stretch to avoid a collapse.
"We have to trap and press to survive," Galyon said. "We mixed them up pretty good and they kept the tempo up.
"I don't think we gained ground (in the standings), but we didn't lose ground that we could have."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.