Warhawks to host area tourney after wins against Slocomb, Geneva

Daleville clinched home court advantage in the Class 3A, Area 3 tournament with a 52-33 win on the road Jan. 21 against Slocomb.

The Warhawks met a team goal when they earned the right to play the tournament on their home floor, but Daleville coach Troy Turnman said the players still had goals to accomplish.

“After the game we were happy,” he said. “The guys know this is just a stepping stone. We were happy and everything, but we understand we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

The Red Tops had an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We didn’t have a good first quarter,” Turman said. “The game was a little too slow. We started picking up the pace and picking up the intensity.”

The Hawks’ intensity carried the team to the win.

Daleville scored 18 points and allowed just one in the second to take a 27-12 halftime lead.

“That was the difference in the game,” Turman said. “We just picked it up intensity wise and everything. Everybody got to play, and we just really picked it up. We changed a few things during a timeout, and it really worked to our advantage.”

Daleville had a 25-point offensive outburst in the third quarter, and its defense limited the Red Tops to eight. The Warhawks had a 52-20 lead when the fourth quarter began.

Daleville pulled down 37 rebounds in the game, and Turman said the effort on the boards and stingy, man-to-man defense helped the Hawks build the lead.

“We can run that and get after it,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the guys having the intensity, and tonight we had intensity and we were in the right position defensively. These are the fundamentals you have to do well. We did that (against Slocomb).

Slocomb shut out Daleville in the final frame and scored 13 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Warhawks’ lead.

Robert McGirt led DHS with 21 points in the game, Jaylyn Hinton followed with nine. Aaron Cope, Darwin Mason and Coco Hayes each had five. Labrijian Bloodsaw added three. Gator Crawford and Keon Ford each had two points.

Daleville’s intensity on the court also played a part in a 62-39 win against Geneva last Friday.

The game was tied three times in the opening quarter, and the teams went into the second with a 9-9 score.

Once again the second quarter, in which Daleville outscored Geneva 20-11, gave the Warhawks the spark they needed. This time, however, it came from the defensive end of the floor.

“Our defense started creating some offense,” Turman said. “That helped us. We started picking them up full court and making them work hard on offense instead of sitting back and letting them pass the ball around. We played the passing lanes a little more and got out on the break. We just made them run.”

Daleville led 29-20 at the break, and used a 7-0 run early in the third quarter to stretch its lead to 40-23. The Hawks led 44-32 after the third quarter. They scored 19 points and allowed just seven in the final eight minutes to secure the win.

Hayes led DHS with 17 points, and McGirt had 11. Cope followed with 10. Hinton and Crawford each posted six. Trevor High, Bloodsaw and Eric Giles had three apiece. Ford added two, and Jonathan Pittman had one.

The Warhawks were 6-0 in area play.

The junior varsity Hawks won 49-48 against Geneva. The team was 11-2 on the season and had a 10-game winning streak at press time.

The Warhawks will host Luverne Jan. 30. Games are scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.