Decatur Girls Roll Over Woodward

Jordan Dillard, who’s scored 20 or more points in four of her first five games, had 22 Tuesday night in the Decatur girls 55-40 win over 10th-ranked (in this week’s AJC poll) Woodward Academy.

For Decatur, which trailed only briefly, it was impressive opener in the Region 6-AAA schedule.

“Woodward’s one of the favorites in this region,” said Decatur coach Bill Roberts. “Therefore it was imperative for us to come out tonight and make a statement.”

The boys made no such statement, getting out-run and out-shot 61-41 by Woodward.

Putting last Thursday’s 19-point loss to Greater Atlanta Christian out of their minds, the girls opened up a 30-19 lead at intermission in giving Woodward little chance to breathe.

Once again the Bulldogs got impressive performances from their freshmen, point guard Jayla Morrow who had 10 points and three assists, while bruising forward Kayla Thomas had nine rebounds. Both did their work coming off the bench.

Woodward’s Alex Williams, one of the region’s best players, had 18 points, but no other player for the visitors hit double figures.

For the boys it was a tough night all around. Junior forward Davante Meadows scored nine points in the game’s first 5:50, and when he scored on a left-handed drive with 2:10 left Decatur led 12-11.

But that would be the last lead. With Woodward overplaying his left hand, Meadows would score only eight more points for a total of 17, with no other Bulldog coming close to double figures.

Woodward ran from the opening tip and never slowed down. The entire night seemed to be one 3-on-2 or 3-on-1 break after another. Of its 18 field goals, 11 came within five feet of the basket. On those rare occasions when the inside was jammed, or Decatur played solid help defense, Woodward stepped beyond the arc and hit 6 of 7 three pointers.

Trey Williams, Avery Cobb and Max LeFar led Woodward’s balanced attack with nine points each.

“We knew they’d play transition basketball,” Decatur coach Charlie Copp said. “They did a great job of pushing the basketball and it seemed like every one of them are fundamentally sound shooters.

“We’ve got to learn to be in better [defensive] position,” he said. “We still have to think too much on defense when by now it should be reflex.”

But defense wasn’t Decatur’s only problem.  The Bulldogs shot 13 of 45 from the field for 29 percent, including 1 of 12 from beyond the arc. Decatur hit only four jump shots all night, none from farther than 12 feet except for Murad Dillard’s first-quarter three-pointer.

Neither the boys or girls have much time for reflection, traveling to Blessed Trinity Friday for another important regional contest. The girls play at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30 p.m.

The boys are now 3-2 while the girls improve to 4-1.