Sports
DHS Basketball Teams Punch Tickets for State Tournament
Boys edge Westminster 49-46, girls bounce Blessed Trinity 52-38
State tournament, here they come.
The boys and girls varsity basketball teams survived the most significant games of the season Wednesday, vaulting them into the Georgia Class AA tournaments next weekend.
The boys sweated out a 49-46 victory over Westminster, which followed the girls' 52-38 shellacking of Blessed Trinity. The setting was the second round of Region 6 tourney at Jackson High in Atlanta.
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Some pre-state business remains to be settled. Both DHS squads motored into the region semifinals Friday night -- girls at 7, boys at 8:30 -- then, win or lose, are back at Jackson High Saturday, either for consolation or championship games. At stake, besides the region titles, are seeding and early home-court advantage in the 32-team state brackets.
Only four Bulldogs' boys scored -- out of seven who played. The quartet collaborated for enough offense against tall, testy Westminster to secure win No. 20.
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, with 24 points, accounted for nearly half of the total contributed 13, 7 and 5.
Kirk and Fisher threw down three-pointers -- DHS made only one more --at the end of an otherwise desultory third period to push the Bulldogs up by seven. The cushion soon expanded to 10, allowing Decatur (20-7) to withstand a mini-rally in the fourth quarter that halved the lead.
Avenging a regular season setback at Westminster, the Bulldogs got a welcome jolt at the halftime buzzer on Jefferson's tip-in. It sent them them high-fiving to the locker room with a 26-22 lead.
The DHS girls (21-6) also sank a pivotal halftime buzzer-beater, this one from nearly half-court by . Her trey blessed them with a 33-28 lead at the break. They gradually pulled drew away in the second half, when amassed 11 of her 15 points.
Johnson topped the team for the first time all season. Usual leading scorer, with 12, also gave way to Rivers, who scored 14.
Both teams kicked off the region Monday with suspense-free victories. The boys stifled Lovett 61-27; the girls trounced Therrell 64-24.
After Wednesday's twin wins, they can play relaxed this weekend -- knowing, no matter the outcomes, there is more basketball to come.
