Lady Hawks win area games

After a slow start, the Daleville girls basketball team picked up the pace and earned its second Class 3A, Area 3 win Jan.10 with a 45-12 victory against Slocomb.

The Lady Hawks trailed 5-2 after the opening quarter.

"We played hard so I couldn't be mad at them for that," Daleville girls coach Zach Kelley said. "We were giving effort, but our shots weren't going down."

The Lady Hawks didn't have much success from beyond the arc early in the game, but Kelley told the team to be patient on offense.

"I told them (not to) force it, just to swing it around until we get an open look," he said. "Finally we started settling down."

Daleville's offense exploded for 17 points in the second frame.

"We just kept playing hard and didn't give up," Kelley said. "We just kept playing hard and didn't let them dictate how we played. We kept trying to go inside."

The Lady Hawks led 19-8 at the break, and Kelley wanted to make sure the effort carried to the second half.

"We kept playing hard, and then finally our shots started falling," Kelley said. "I told them at halftime just to keep that momentum, and then keep playing hard."

The Lady Hawks started the third quarter on a 7-0 run and took a 26-8 lead before Slocomb answered. Daleville scored seven more points, including a 3-point shot, and had a 33-10 lead when the third quarter ended.

The fourth quarter saw Daleville score nine consecutive points to take a 42-10 lead before the Lady Red Tops broke their streak, but the Lady Hawks picked up a 33-point win.

La Tia Fils-Aime led Daleville with 17 points, and Chyana Blanks followed with seven. Gary Richard and Payton Souders each recorded six points. Eternity Hayes had five, and Jada Brooks scored three. Alasia Stewart added one.

Daleville shot 35 percent from the field,  and was 8-of-17 from the charity stripe. The Lady Hawks also pulled down 34 total rebounds, 18 of which were on the offensive end. They swiped 14 steals in the game.

The win was the Lady Hawks second in two area games. The first was a 63-43 victory Jan. 7 on the road against Dale County.

The Lady Hawks led 13-10 after the first quarter and 26-24 at the half. Daleville scored 29 points in the third quarter, which is its best offensive frame of the year. The Lady Hawks allowed just seven points in the third, and led 55-31 headed to the final quarter.

"They played (well). We started off slow again, but we had a big third quarter," Kelley said. "On offense we didn't start off very slow, but on defense we did. They were making some shots (from behind the 3-point line). Other than that we played hard and played (well)."