HAHIRA — The Valwood Valiants welcomed the Byne Christian School Saints to Eager Sports Center on Tuesday night. A night after splitting with Fullington Academy, Valwood came back with a sweep. The Valiants marched the Saints right out, 64-40, and the Lady Valiants breezed to a 56-36 win.
Lady Valiants
After starting Monday’s game down 11-2, the Lady Valiants had a much better opening quarter, taking a commanding 8-2 lead midway through the first period thanks to Carolyn Griner and Caylee Collins.
Griner grabbed a pair of rebounds early, as well as score two two-point buckets, bringing her total to 5 after making 1-of-2 free-throws. Collins added onto the Lady Valiant lead, scoring 12 total points to give the Valiants an 18-6 lead at the end of the frame.
After the Saints scored the first points of the second quarter with 6:38 to go, the Valiants went on a 12-0 run, with 6 points coming from Bella Shaw. With less than four minutes remaining in the half, the Lady Valiants held a 30-8 lead.
Byne scored the next three points of the game late in the half, giving them 5 total for the quarter. With under a minute to go, Lacy Ann McLeod hit 1-of-2 free-throws, giving the Lady Valiants the 31-11 at the half.
To start the 3rd quarter, Collins added two assists to her impressive performance, passing the ball to McLeod on back-to-back possessions for 4 points. Byne tried to cut the Valiant lead down, scoring the next three points, but lost the momentum after four points from Collins on an assist from Shaw and a successful steal attempt on the Saints on the following possession.
Byne exceeded their second quarter scoring total thanks to a three-pointer. After McLeod assisted Collins and Griner on the next two possessions for four points, the Saints scored the final five points of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 43-22. Valwood closed the third on a 7-0 run, up 50-22 going into the final period.
Byne had a 7-0 run in the fourth before Carrigan Collins scored Valwood’s last points in the 56-36 win. Valwood is now 2-1 on the season.
The top scorer for the Lady Valiants was Caylee Collins with 24 points, which she scored in three quarters.
Valiants
Just like the girls game, the first quarter of the boys game Tuesday night was completely different from Monday, this time with the Valiants jumping out to a big 11-0 lead after three three-pointers, including two from Richard Hunter.
After Byne called their first timeout with 4:15 left in the 1st quarter, Jack Morris added another three-pointer to give Valwood a 14-0 lead. The Saints scored their first point with 3:05 to go in the first on a three throw, which Morris countered with his second three.
Byne made their first bucket, then Morris hit another three. The Valiants took the 23-9 lead into the second quarter.
The Saints began the second period with a 7-0 run. Valwood called timeout, then matched the run with one of their own, including another by Morris behind the three-point line. William Woodall and Ethan Owens combined for six points at the end of the period, putting Valwood up 36-20 at the break.
The Valiants began the third quarter on a 10-0 run, sparked by by Morris and Owens. Chase Helfer pushed the lead to 25 and a free throw by Davis Tyrone increased it to 53-27. Morris had a basket at the buzzer to end the period
After both teams traded two-point shots to start the fourth, both teams decided to start subbing in the backups with the game now 57-30 Valwood.
Morris scored his seventh three-pointer of the game, bringing his total to 23 points midway through the fourth quarter. After a 8-0 run by the Saints with less than 2:30 to go in the game, Westin Zickos knocked down a shot. Evan Schert scored Valwood’s last points as they improved to 2-0 on the year
The top scorer for the boys was Morris, leading all scorers with 23, including seven three-pointers.
Statistically, the Valwood boys out-rebounded (45-35), out-assisted (20-5), out-blocked (3-1) and had more steals (15-14) than the Saints. The Valiants shot 42% from the field, 34% from 3, and 20% from the free throw line.
Valwood’s next scheduled games see them travel to Highland Christian on Dec. 4 and Echols County on Dec. 5. Their next time at home is slated for Dec. 7 against Lanier County.