Schools
DHS Girls Beat Blessed Trinity in Regional, Clinch Spot in State Tourney
Boy Play First game Thursday against Blessed Trinity
After a shaky start Decatur's girls pulled away for a 74-53 win over Blessed Trinity Wednesday afternoon in Day 3 of the Region 6-AA tournament.
The victory guarantees the Decatur girls a berth in next week's state tournament. The Lady Bulldogs are now 22-4 and ranked, respectively, sixth and seventh in Coaches and Atlanta Journal-Constitution polls.
It also puts Decatur into the regional semifinal against Lovett, which beat Therrell 63-40. That game will be played at 4 p.m. Friday.
Queen Alford led Decatur with 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, with most of that coming in the first half. Indeed, Alford scored 25 of her team's first 31 points.
But there was one serious red flag with the Bulldogs porous help-side defense. Of Blessed Trinity's 19 field goals, 11 were point-blank layups, including three consecutive first-quarter bunnies that allowed Blessed to pull within 15-14 with 2:52 left.
When Kirsten Green hit a three with 7:40 left in the second, Blessed still trailed only 24-19.
"We did have some communication breakdowns on defense, and we need to fix that fast," said coach Bill Roberts. "I don't think it had anything to do with us having tournament jitters. In the end you have to give them credit for hitting shots."
But after Green's three Blessed didn't hit many more shots, at least not from the field. Decatur went on a 37-16 binge over the next 15 minutes, several of those coming on fine interior passing from Queen to Jordan Dillard.
Dillard, a 6-0 junior, finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Queen and Dillard have been the 1-2 offensive punch for Decatur all year, and it was no different Wednesday. No one else came close to double figures.
Stephanie Kalinouski led Blessed Trinity, which finishes its season at 8-18, with 15 points.
Besides the 11 layups, Blessed made 14 of 24 free throws. Decatur shot only six free throws (making five) but hit 33 of 71 from the field for 46 percent.
Roberts played the fourth quarter entirely with reserves.
Decatur's opponent in the semifinal, Lovett, is one of the top teams in the tough Region 6-AA. Lovett beat the Lady Bulldogs 54-38 back on Dec. 6. The highlight of that game was the second quarter where Lovett outscored the Bulldogs 21-2.
'That was horrible, our worst quarter all year," Roberts said. "It better be a lot different this time around."
Decatur's boys (12-13) play their first tournament game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Blessed Trinity. In their first meeting of the year, Decatur lost 44-34.
In other Wednesday scores:
Find out what's happening in Decatur-Avondale Estateswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Boys
Buford 63, Maynard Jackson 42.
Find out what's happening in Decatur-Avondale Estateswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
South Atlanta 52, Westminster 32.
Thursday scores:
Girls
Greater Atlanta Christian 54, South Atlanta 22.
Boys
Decatur 37, Blessed Trinity 29.