Buccaneer Girls Dismantle South Atlanta

The semifinal game turned ugly quickly.

Riding an 18-5 first-quarter lead, Allatoona High School’s girls basketball team rolled to a 43-23 victory over South Atlanta Thursday night to advance to the championship game of its 2nd annual Lake City Classic Basketball Tournament.

The Buccaneers – a school-best 11-1 – will play Archer (8-3) at 7 p.m. today. The Tigers advanced by beating Drew 55-51 Thursday and opened the tourney by downing South Paulding 42-19 Wednesday.

Allatoona junior guard Elise Spann led the Buccaneers in their first quarter scoring outburst with 13 of her game-high 19 points coming in the first half. She also drained three 3-pointers before halftime.

Spann and teammate Alexis Ezell turned the first quarter into a scoring competition as Spann registered eight points and Ezell added six points. Buccaneer teammates Alyssa Dobson and Sage Wolf scored two points apiece to complete the first-quarter Allatoona scoring onslaught.

“We came out really strong, but at the same time it could’ve been worse,” Spann said. “We got a little complacent once we got the lead.”

South Atlanta sophomore guard Bryttani Reed was impressed with Spann’s shooting display.

“She was very accurate,” said Reed, who scored three points. “She makes sure she’s set with her shot. She doesn’t just throw it up there.”

Allatoona teammate junior forward Alexis Ezell also played well in the first-half with eight of her 12 points coming in the first 16 minutes to help the Buccaneers take a 27-9 halftime lead.

Even though Allatoona had grabbed the commanding early lead, Ezell wasn’t happy that South Atlanta (3-7) was only outscored by the Buccaneers 16-14 in the second-half.

“We could’ve had a lot more intensity as a team on defense, like trying to
anticipate more passes,” Ezell said.

South Atlanta junior forward Jacarda Kizzee led the Hornets’ second-half rally with six of her team-high 10 points coming in the third quarter. Kizzee said she would like another chance to play Allatoona.

“They came out hard the first half, but I believe everyone was a little nervous,” she said. “I would like to play them again one day because my team is so much better than what they played.”