Buccaneer Girls Roll in Classic

Allatoona High School’s girls basketball jumped out to a 24-13 halftime lead and never looked back to cruise to a 53-33 win over North Paulding Wednesday night in the first round of its second annual three-day Lake City Classic Basketball Tournament.

Junior forward Alexis Ezell helped to ensure the rout with 12 of her game-high 20 points coming in the second half for the Buccaneers, who raised their school-best record to 10-1 with the victory.

Allatoona will play South Atlanta (3-6) at 7 p.m. today in the semifinals. The Hornets beat Lanier 38-28 to advance.

“I had to play better for my team because they needed me,” said the 5-foot-10 Ezell, who reached the 20-point plateau for the fifth time this season. “I knew I could play better. I just started posting up and they got me the ball and I scored.”

Fourth-year Buccaneers coach Michael Taylor said Ezell “wasn’t on top of her game in the first quarter.”

“We pulled her out to talk to her and keep her head in the game and stay confident,” he said. “She responded and started playing different in the second, third and fourth (quarters).”

Allatoona junior guard Elise Spann scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rounds. Buccaneer guard Alyssa Dobson contributed by burying two 3-pointers.

North Paulding senior guard Megan Hart led the Wolfpack (5-6 overall) with 10 points, including hitting two 3-pointers in the third quarter.

“We could’ve easily competed (more) with them, and maybe even beat them, if we would’ve came out strong and played strong all the way through,” Hart said.

Sophomore Jalexis Teemer and senior Jazmin Konnick each added five points apiece for North Paulding, which will play Lanier (5-7) at 1 p.m. today.