DALTON, Ga. – Jeff McKinney has high expectations for his basketball team, and the Dalton High School girls’ coach knows certain hurdles must be cleared before those goals are realized.
Goal No. 1 was achieved Tuesday night: breaking the four-year losing streak against rival Northwest Whitfield. A sizzling start, which included 4-for-4 success from 3-point range, gave the Lady Catamounts a 17-point lead after one period, and though the Lady Bruins had several strong runs, Dalton pulled away late for a 66-52 win.
“The girls came out wanting to set the tempo,” McKinney said after his team rose to 7-0. “We both like to press and play full-court basketball. We did a very good job offensively of getting some transition buckets early in the game.
“Northwest played hard and shot the ball extremely well. It doesn’t matter what the record is: When we play each other, it’s going to be a barn-burner of a game. Just look at last year. They were a state finalist and we played them tough each time, losing by five and eight, so we knew it would be tough.”
Maddie Howell and Chandler McKinney scored eight points apiece in the opening-quarter blitz, each hitting two of the team’s 3-pointers. The aggressive Dalton defense forced seven early turnovers, and when the Lady Bruins (6-2) did get a shot off, former Northwest player Quaniesha McCurty affected it.
McCurty, who transferred following last season, had three of her four blocked shots and 10 of her 16 rebounds in the opening half.
Northwest hit three of its nine made 3s in the second quarter and pulled within 13 at the break. More importantly, three Lady Cats – Howell, point guard Amanda Rector and McKinney – ended the first half with three fouls apiece. The situation grew worse early in the third quarter when each was tagged for a fourth foul. At the 4:41 mark of the third, holding a 17-point lead, Dalton had to rely on its bench.
“We had to adjust in the second half because we were in major foul trouble,” Coach McKinney said. “We were just trying to survive until we could get the girls back out there.”
On the strength of 3s from Sydney Roberts, Halle Ford and Brook Everett, the Lady Bruins cut the lead to eight with 55 seconds to play in the period. However, McCurty and reserve Taylor Behr had back-to-back layups off fastbreaks to end the period with a 12-point lead. Dalton scored the first six points of the final quarter, including a 3-pointer from April Besley, to stretch the lead back to 18 and end the drama.
“It’s good to end the losing streak to them,” senior Rector said. “This year was our time to do it. They’ve had great teams, and in any game between Dalton and Northwest it’s going to be tough. You’ve got to be emotionally ready. If you’re not, you’ll lose. We’ve got a good bench. When we had four girls on the bench in foul trouble, it kind of worried me, but they held it together.”
Howell led Dalton with 19 points, with McCurty adding 11 and McKinney scoring 10. Roberts hit four 3s in leading Northwest with 16 points.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296.