Darton rolls over Georgia Highlands

ALBANY — The Darton Lady Titans defeated Georgia Highlands 82-61 Saturday afternoon at the Cavalier Arena to get their second region win in as many games.

It was a balanced scoring attack from the Lady Cavaliers as four of the five starters scored in double figures and two other players scored eight and nine points respectively. Darton came out on fire, shooting 62 percent in the first half and 60 percent for the game. Head coach Lea Henry said her team really got into a rhythm offensively and executed well.

“I just thought we played really well offensively today,” she said. “We played well as a team. I thought we did a great job of getting the ball inside to our post. We had balanced scoring and got it inside.”

Tamarah Fisher was one of the post players that played strong down low on Saturday. The sophomore finished with 15 points and four rebounds. Henry also credited guard Jeslynn Mahone for her improved play.

“Jeslynn was a great leader for us today and showed a lot of poise in the first half,” Henry said. “She got to the basket and hit some big baskets. I think the first half was a turning point for Jeslynn. This was a very big game, a very big region game. This is kind of a rival game and they always have a very good team, so I think that the way that she handled our team the first half was the way she’s gonna have to do it the rest of the year for us to win the big games.”

It was a close contest for the first 10 minutes. Georgia Highland capitalized on Darton turnovers and drew a few fouls that sent them to the line and they cut the lead to 23-15 with nine minutes left. The Lady Cavaliers got back on track toward the end of the half and ripped off a 15-0 run to go into the break with a 49-26 lead.

Darton held Georgia Highlands to 27.8 percent shooting in the first half and 33.8 in the game. Henry said she felt they played well defensively in the first half, but came out flat in the second.

“I think we just have to get better defensively,” she said. “We’re big and when you’re big like that, people are gonna have to drive on you because they can’t shoot over you. So we just have to work on it and get better and work on our help side [defense].”

Shanea Armbrsiter led all scorers with 24 points while tallying five assists and five rebounds. B’Kiya Webb had the lone double-double for the Lady Cavs with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Mahone round out the scoring leaders with 13 points to go with her six assists.

Darton will remain at home this Wednesday to face Chattahoochee Tech at 6 p.m.